Who Is Actually at a Virginia Closing Table, and Do You Need a Real Estate Attorney?

People who move to Richmond from attorney-state jurisdictions tend to ask the same question two weeks before settlement: which attorney is doing my closing? The answer, which sounds wrong the first time you hear it, is that in Virginia there may not be an attorney at your closing at all, and that is entirely lawful.

This post explains why, who is actually in the room, who picks that person, and when you genuinely do want your own lawyer rather than a competent settlement agent.

Virginia permits lay settlement agents, and that is the whole answer

Some states require a licensed attorney to conduct a residential real estate settlement. Virginia does not. The Real Estate Settlement Agents Act, Chapter 10 of Title 55.1 of the Code of Virginia, expressly contemplates non-attorneys doing this work.

Section 55.1-1002, “Scope of chapter; lay real estate settlement agents,” puts it directly: notwithstanding any rule of court or other provision of the chapter, a lay real estate settlement agent may provide escrow, closing and settlement services for any real property in the Commonwealth and receive compensation for them, provided the agent is registered under and in compliance with the chapter. It is current law; the history line runs 1997, 1998, 1999, 2010 and 2019, with no repeal.

The chapter defines “lay” precisely: a person not licensed as an attorney in Virginia, not a party to the transaction, providing escrow, closing or settlement services on Virginia real estate, and listed as the settlement agent on the settlement statement or closing disclosure.

So if you close on a house in Chesterfield County and the person running the table is a title company employee rather than a lawyer, nothing has gone wrong. That is how most Virginia residential closings happen.

Who may act as a settlement agent

Section 55.1-1003 is the gate. A person may not act as a settlement agent, and no lender, seller, purchaser or borrower may contract with a person to act as one, unless that person has not been convicted of a felony (unless civil rights have been restored by the Governor or a writ of actual innocence granted) and is one of the following:

• an attorney licensed in Virginia;
• a title insurance company licensed under Title 38.2;
• a title insurance agent licensed under Title 38.2 and appointed by a title insurance company licensed in Virginia;
• a real estate broker licensed under Chapter 21 of Title 54.1;
• a financial institution authorised to do business in Virginia under Title 6.2 or federal law; or
• a subsidiary or affiliate of such a financial institution.

Two things follow. First, it is a closed list: the person handling your money is in one of those six categories or should not be doing the job. Second, note category four – a licensed real estate broker can be a settlement agent. That is legal, and it is also worth asking about, because it puts one company on two sides of your transaction. Broker licensing and disciplinary records sit with the Virginia Real Estate Board at DPOR, which is where you verify a licence rather than taking anyone’s word for it.

The one thing a lay settlement agent cannot do for you

It cannot give you legal advice. That limit is not folklore; it is written into the disclosure the statute requires in your contract. Section 55.1-1007 requires that all contracts involving the purchase of real estate containing not more than four residential dwelling units carry a “Choice of Settlement Agent” notice in at least 10-point boldface type. The statutory language includes this:

The same required notice describes the settlement agent’s role as the coordination of numerous administrative and clerical functions relating to the collection of documents and the collection and disbursement of funds required to carry out the contract. That is the job description in the statute’s own words: coordination, collection and disbursement. Not advice.

It tells you two more things. The chapter’s provisions may not be varied by agreement and the rights it confers may not be waived. And the Virginia State Bar issues guidelines to help settlement agents avoid the unauthorized practice of law, which you as purchaser or borrower are entitled to receive from your settlement agent on request.

The chapter’s definitions section spells out what those services include, and the list is long: ordering title insurance, receipting money, ordering loan checks and payoffs, ordering surveys and inspections, preparing the settlement statement or closing disclosure, confirming the closing documents conform to the parties’ contract, setting the closing appointment, satisfying lender instructions, conducting the closing conference, receiving and disbursing funds, completing form documents selected by the parties, arranging recording, and reporting the sale to the IRS. That is a great deal of substantive work. It is still not legal advice.

What the law makes a settlement agent carry

Because a lay agent is holding your money, the chapter attaches financial responsibility requirements. Section 55.1-1004 sets minimums for settlement agents other than financial institutions and title insurance companies:

Minimums under Code of Virginia § 55.1-1004 and the civil penalty under § 55.1-1014. Attorneys and annually audited title insurance companies are outside the escrow-audit requirement; financial institutions and title insurance companies are outside the insurance and bond minimums.

Requirement	Minimum
Errors and omissions or malpractice insurance	$250,000 in coverage
Blanket fidelity bond or employee dishonesty insurance	$100,000 in coverage (waivable on application where the agent has no employees beyond its owners, partners, shareholders or members)
Surety bond	Not less than $200,000
Escrow account audit	By an independent CPA at least once every consecutive 12-month period, with the report to the licensing authority within 60 days of completion
Civil penalty for willful failure to comply with the Virginia State Bar’s unauthorized-practice guidelines	Up to $5,000 per failure

Two uses for that table. It answers “is it safe to close without a lawyer” – there is a registration regime, insurance minimums, bonding and an annual escrow audit behind the person wiring your money. And it gives you a question to ask: who is my settlement agent registered with, and are they in compliance?

Who is actually in the room, or on the call

A Richmond residential settlement in 2026 is often a smaller gathering than people expect, and increasingly a partly remote one. The cast:

1. The settlement agent. Runs the conference, explains the mechanics of the documents, receives and disburses funds, arranges recording. Usually an employee of a title company or an attorney’s office.
2. The title company or title insurance agent. Often the same organisation, different function: examining title, resolving what the search turns up, issuing the policies.
3. The lender’s closer or funder. Frequently not in the room. Sends closing instructions and the loan package, releases funds once conditions are met. A file that stalls on closing day usually stalls here.
4. The buyer’s agent and the listing agent. Present to represent their clients and confirm the file matches the contract. Not able to give legal advice either.
5. An attorney, sometimes. Either acting as the settlement agent, or separately retained by one party to advise them. Two different roles, and it matters which one you have.
6. The sellers and buyers. Sometimes together, sometimes at separate appointments, sometimes remotely.

If you want to know how the sequence gets to that room, our realistic Richmond closing timeline maps it, and what can delay a Richmond closing covers the specific failure points.

You choose the settlement agent, and the statute says so

This is the single most under-used right in a Virginia purchase. Section 55.1-1006 provides that a purchaser or borrower in a Virginia real estate transaction has the right to select the settlement agent, and that the seller may not require the use of a particular settlement agent as a condition of the sale.

That matters most on new construction and on any purchase where the other side has an affiliated title company. A builder in Midlothian or a listing brokerage in Henrico County may strongly prefer its own settlement company, and there may be an incentive attached. Preferring is allowed. Requiring is not.

The same section protects the seller’s side. Nothing in the chapter prevents a seller from retaining a Virginia-licensed attorney to represent the seller and advise on the escrow, closing or settlement, and that representation may include deed preparation, fee negotiation and document review. Further, a settlement agent may not collect fees from a represented seller payable to itself or its subsidiaries, affiliates or subcontractors without first obtaining the written consent of the seller’s counsel. That provision has teeth.

What the choice is worth in practice: shop it. Settlement charges are not fixed across providers, and they are one of the few closing-cost lines a buyer genuinely controls. Our 2026 guide to Richmond closing costs breaks out which lines are negotiable.

When you genuinely want your own attorney

A competent settlement agent handles an ordinary purchase in the Fan or a resale in Manchester without anybody needing a lawyer. These are the fact patterns where we tell clients to retain one:

• Title defects. A clouded chain, an old unreleased lien, a defective prior deed, an heir who never signed. The title examination finds the problem; curing it is legal work.
• Estate and heir sales. Multiple heirs, an executor with limited authority, property passing outside probate. Who can actually convey is a legal question.
• Boundary and easement disputes. A survey that does not match the fence, a shared driveway with no recorded agreement, an easement nobody can produce. Common on acreage in Powhatan County and Goochland County.
• Unpermitted work. A finished basement, addition or outbuilding with no permit history. A liability and disclosure question, not a paperwork one.
• Divorce. A sale driven by a property settlement agreement, or one spouse on title and both on the note. Get a lawyer before you sign the offer, not at settlement.
• Seller financing. Any purchase money note or deed of trust running to the seller. Somebody has to draft it.
• Unusual contract terms. Post-settlement occupancy, leaseback, an option, an assignment, or a contract not on a familiar Virginia form.

None of those are exotic; we see several every year here. What they share is that the answer requires legal judgment, and a lay settlement agent is statutorily barred from supplying it.

The settlement agent is not your title insurance

These get conflated constantly, so keep them separate. The settlement agent conducts the closing: documents, funds, recording. Title insurance is a policy that pays if a covered defect in title surfaces later. The same company frequently does both, which is why people merge them.

The distinction bites when something goes wrong. If the closing conference was mishandled, you are looking at the settlement agent’s duties and the financial responsibility minimums above. If a defect in title emerges three years later, you are looking at your owner’s policy and what it covers, which is narrower and stranger than most buyers assume: what an owner’s title policy actually covers in Richmond.

Where this sits in the rest of the file

Settlement is the last of several places where “who represents whom” decides what you are entitled to. This post is part of our cluster on Virginia agency and representation, alongside dual and designated agency, the Virginia buyer agency agreement, and on the seller side, what a Richmond listing agreement commits you to.

[CLUSTER HUB NEEDED: Virginia agency and representation] – four posts, no hub page.

If you are earlier in the process than settlement, browse what is actually listed through our Richmond-area property search or walk through a few in person via this weekend’s open houses, and read how we work with buyers before you decide who to bring to the table with you.

Frequently asked questions