                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DOMICILE AND RESIDENTIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SUITS FOR ANNULMENT, AFFIRMANCE, OR
DIVORCE (§ 20-97)

No suit for annulling a marriage or for divorce shall be maintainable, unless
one of the parties was at the time of the filing of the suit and had been for at
least six months preceding the filing of the suit an actual bona fide resident
and domiciliary of the Commonwealth, nor shall any suit for affirming a marriage
be maintainable, unless one of the parties be domiciled in, and is and has been
an actual bona fide resident of, the Commonwealth at the time of filing such
suit.
		For the purposes of this section only:

1. If a member of the Armed Forces of the United States has been stationed or
resided in the Commonwealth and has lived for a period of six months or more in
the Commonwealth next preceding the filing of the suit, then such person shall
be presumed to be domiciled in and to have been a bona fide resident of the
Commonwealth during such period of time.

2. Being stationed or residing in the Commonwealth includes, but is not limited
to, a member of the armed forces being stationed or residing upon a ship having
its home port in the Commonwealth or at an air, naval, or military base located
within the Commonwealth over which the United States enjoys exclusive federal
jurisdiction.

3. Any member of the Armed Forces of the United States or any civilian employee
of the United States, including any foreign service officer, who (i) at the time
the suit is filed is, or immediately preceding such suit was, stationed in any
territory or foreign country and (ii) was domiciled in the Commonwealth for the
six-month period immediately preceding his being stationed in such territory or
country shall be deemed to have been domiciled in and to have been a bona fide
resident of the Commonwealth during the six months preceding the filing of a
suit for annulment or divorce.

4. Upon separation of a married couple, either spouse may establish his own and
separate domicile, though the separation may have been caused under such
circumstances as would entitle such spouse to a divorce or annulment.

HISTORY: Code 1919, § 5105; 1922, p. 589; 1958, c. 169; 1968, c. 455; 1974, c.
278; 1978, c. 412; 1985, c. 304; 1987, c. 35; 1988, c. 448; 1991, c. 259; 2009,
c. 582; 2015, c. 315; 2017, c. 480; 2020, c. 900.