§ 8.01-460.Decree for support and maintenance of spouse or infant children of parties as lien on real estate.

Ordinary money judgments become liens automatically once docketed, but a support decree covering payments not yet due works differently, because the debt is still accruing rather than fixed. Section 8.01-460 lets a court impose a lien on real estate it designates, from time to time, to secure a spouse’s or child’s future support installments, or a monetary award under § 20-107.3 — but only if the court specifically orders that decree, order, or judgment docketed.

There is a second path into a lien besides that up-front designation: once the obligor is found delinquent, after reasonable notice, the order making that finding becomes a lien on the obligor’s real estate on its own. Either way, the lien arises through the same docketing procedure used for other money judgments.

The lien is not permanent by nature. On petition by an interested person, after reasonable notice to the obligee, the court that found the obligor delinquent can release or modify the lien. It can also be released by agreement, if every person entitled to the support is sui juris and they all agree, evidenced by an affidavit the clerk uses to note the release. And regardless of any of that, the lien expires once the support obligation is paid in full, at which point the clerk may release it on an affidavit from the obligees or on court order.