§ 8.01-317.What order of publication to state; how published; when publication in newspaper dispensed with; electronic notice.

Once a court decides publication is appropriate, Section 8.01-317 dictates exactly what that publication must contain and how it must run. The order must give the abbreviated style of the suit, briefly state its object, and require the defendants or unknown parties to appear and protect their interests by a date no sooner than fifty days after the order's entry. Publication runs once each week for four successive weeks in whatever newspaper the court prescribes, or the clerk directs if the court does not specify one, and a copy must be posted at the front door of the courthouse.

A copy of the order must also be mailed to each defendant at the post-office address given in the affidavit required by § 8.01-316, and the clerk has twenty days from entry of the order to get copies posted, mailed, and sent to the designated newspaper. Once publication is complete, the clerk files a certificate confirming the section's requirements were met.

The court has flexibility to modernize this process: it may dispense with newspaper publication altogether, or order electronic notice in addition to or instead of it, provided that notice is reasonably calculated under the circumstances to reach interested parties and give them a chance to object. The petitioner or applicant pays the cost of publication or notice, except that costs in locality tax-lien proceedings follow the separate rules in Article 4 of Chapter 39, Title 58.1.