Powhatan County Line of Duty Surviving Spouse Exemption

Section 70-90 of the county code, adopted by Ordinance O-2017-28 on October 23, 2017, exempts from taxation the dwelling and up to one acre of land of the unremarried surviving spouse of a covered person who occupies the property as the principal residence, under sections 58.1-3219.13 through 58.1-3219.16 of the Code of Virginia. The county is not liable for interest on refunds of taxes paid before the spouse filed the affidavit required by section 58.1-3219.15. The exemption applies only to so much of the dwelling's value as does not exceed the average assessed value in the county for single-family dwellings, and other dwelling types, including manufactured homes and condominiums, qualify in the same manner. Under section 58.1-3219.9(B) the average is only the yardstick: a home worth more than the average is exempt up to the average and only the excess is taxed, and the exemption follows the spouse to a different principal place of residence. The average. The county publishes no average single-family assessed value on its site, so it was computed from the county's own 2026 assessment roll (read 2026-10-13): the by-owner listing (309 pages, 16,048 parcels) carries 14,183 class-2 residential parcels, of which 11,824 carry an improvement value; their average total assessed value, land and improvements together, is $475,469 (median $430,450), and the improvement values alone average $357,079. The roll does not separate single-family detached from other dwellings within its residential class, so the figure is the roll's whole improved residential class; a spouse filing should still confirm the county's own figure with the Commissioner of the Revenue's office. Because the county's elderly relief covers a dwelling and one acre, section 58.1-3219.9(D) carries up to one acre to the spouse as well.