Learn How Virginia Divorce Laws Affect Your Case and What You Can Expect

To file for divorce in the U.S. State of Virginia, you need first to have answers to basic points regarding Virginia divorce laws. If you do not know the laws of the state, then the chances are you might end up making a mistake when you are filing for divorce, and your petition might then be rejected. Worse still, you might not get what you want from the divorce.

What are Virginia’s Residency Requirements?

The state ha very few residency requirements in regard to filing a case for divorce there,   so Virginia divorce courts are likely to accept your case.

On What Grounds Can You File for Divorce in Virginia?

You can file for a ‘no-fault’ divorce if you have no children and have lived separate and apart from each other uninterrupted for 6 months, or do have children and have lived apart and without cohabitation for one year – with or without a prior separation agreement. Most importantly, the two of you must decide that there is no major problem here – it is just that the relationship is not working out, or there is ‘incompatibility’.

Your other option is to charge your spouse with responsibility for your marital breakdown. At    that point you may be inviting a legal conflict either by way of defense against your charge or a counter-charge against you. There are instances, though, when a spouse so charged has simply offered no contest, and has thus by default admitted to the charge.

As per Virginia divorce laws, these charges could be one or more of the following:

•    Cruel treatment with apprehension of bodily harm, such as to make it impossible to live together
•    Adultery or sodomy (outside of the marriage)
•    Conviction for felony, imprisonment for at least 1 year in any state or federal penitentiary, and without chance of a pardon; this charge not hold if the conviction came about on your testimony.
•    Abandonment for at least 1 year running, with the intention of making the separation permanent, but not necessarily if he or she has simply run away from your abuse or ill-treatment
•    Impotency
•    Insanity that is unlikely to be cured

After the judgment of divorce, Virginia divorce law will allow both you and your spouse to restore your names as they were before this marriage e.g. father’s surname, or keep the ex-husband’s (in the case of women).

The Paperwork Needed

The essential or primary documents in any divorce proceeding in Virginia are the Petition for Divorce and the Decree of Divorce. There may be anywhere from 10 to 20 other documents that may be required throughout the filing and discovery phases of a divorce case.

Virginia, like many others, is an "equitable distribution" state. This means that the marital property will be divided by the court in an equitable manner, i.e. fairly, with due consideration given to the role of each spouse in the marriage and in the tending of the property in question. If you and your spouse cannot agree on terms of property settlement, the court will order as it deems just with regard for both your rights and those of any children born of the marriage.

If the spouse charged with any fault remains in denial because there is a deadlock in the divorce negotiations, the court will give both you and the spouse a reasonable time for mediation as well as counseling. Qualified professionals will help in all these cases.

The court will hear the point of view of both you and your spouse and will give each of you adequate time to reconcile or fight the case. The court will also consider each of your situations and assess many other factors before finalizing the judgment.