In re: Woodley, 290 Va. 482

Four-year-old Jameer Woodley was killed in a 2009 school-bus accident; his parents qualified as co-administrators of his estate and filed a wrongful-death suit.
A jury awarded wrongful-death damages to statutory beneficiaries, including two minor brothers: Jaylon (age 12) $750,000 and Jaleel (age 5) $200,000.
Parents (also the personal representatives) submitted proposed irrevocable, professionally managed trusts for each minor, with an independent trust company as trustee and no continuing parental control.
The trial court rejected the proposed trusts and ordered the minors’ awards deposited with the clerk of court (into a low-yield bank account).
Parents appealed, arguing the trial court lacked authority to divert awards from the personal representatives to the clerk.
The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed, ordering payment to the personal representatives for distribution consistent with statutory duties.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court could order wrongful-death awards to minors paid to the clerk instead of the personal representative	Parents: trial court erred; Code § 8.01-54(C) requires payment to personal representative who may then distribute (including by creating professionally managed trusts)	Court/Clerk: placing funds with clerk protects minors and permits supervised custody of funds	Reversed: statute mandates awards be paid to the personal representative; trial court lacked authority to preemptively divert funds to clerk
Whether trial court has routine supervisory authority to dictate distribution method for minors’ wrongful-death awards	Parents: personal representative has fiduciary duty and discretion to establish trusts without preemptive court control	Court/Clerk: judicial oversight may be appropriate to protect minors’ interests	Held: No statutory authorization for proactive court direction of distributions; supervisory power only arises if reasonable suspicion of fiduciary breach (not present here)

Wilson v. Whittaker, 207 Va. 1032, 154 S.E.2d 124 (1967) (discusses the statutory origin and nature of wrongful-death actions)
Johnston Mem’l Hosp. v. Bazemore, 277 Va. 308, 672 S.E.2d 858 (2009) (wrongful-death action must be brought by personal representative)
Antisdel v. Ashby, 279 Va. 42, 688 S.E.2d 163 (2010) (personal representative’s role described in fiduciary terms)
Virginia Trust Co. v. Evans, 193 Va. 425, 69 S.E.2d 409 (1952) (personal representative holds position of trust and must exercise utmost good faith)
Owens v. Owens, 196 Va. 966, 86 S.E.2d 181 (1955) (recognizes fiduciary obligations of personal representatives)
Patterson v. Anderson, 194 Va. 557, 74 S.E.2d 195 (1953) (fiduciary liability for breach of duties)
Fisher v. Tails, Inc., 289 Va. 69, 767 S.E.2d 710 (2015) (applies expressio unius canon of statutory interpretation)