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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>85559</law_id><section_number>8.01-398</section_number><catch_line>Privileged marital communications (Subsection (a) of Supreme Court Rule 2:504 derived from this section)</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="8.01">Civil Remedies and Procedure</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="14">Evidence</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="4">Witnesses Generally</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>Husband and wife shall be competent witnesses to testify for or against each other in all <span class="dictionary">civil actions</span>.
		In any civil proceeding, a <span class="dictionary">person</span> has a <span class="dictionary">privilege</span> to refuse to disclose, and to prevent anyone else from disclosing, any <span class="dictionary">confidential communication</span> between his spouse and him during their marriage, regardless of whether he is married to that spouse at the time he <span class="dictionary">objects</span> to disclosure. This <span class="dictionary">privilege</span> may not be asserted in any proceeding in which the spouses are adverse parties, or in which either spouse is charged with a <span class="dictionary">crime</span> or <span class="dictionary">tort</span> against the <span class="dictionary">person</span> or property of the other or against the <span class="dictionary">minor</span> child of either spouse. For the purposes of this section, &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">confidential communication</span>&#x201D; means a communication made privately by a <span class="dictionary">person</span> to his spouse that is not intended for disclosure to any other <span class="dictionary">person</span>.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7;&#xA7; 8-287, 8-289; 1977, c. 617; 2005, c. 809.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
