                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PRIVILEGED MARITAL COMMUNICATIONS (SUBSECTION (A) OF SUPREME COURT RULE 2:504
DERIVED FROM THIS SECTION) (§ 8.01-398)

Husband and wife shall be competent witnesses to testify for or against each
other in all civil actions.
		In any civil proceeding, a person has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and
to prevent anyone else from disclosing, any confidential communication between
his spouse and him during their marriage, regardless of whether he is married to
that spouse at the time he objects to disclosure. This privilege may not be
asserted in any proceeding in which the spouses are adverse parties, or in which
either spouse is charged with a crime or tort against the person or property of
the other or against the minor child of either spouse. For the purposes of this
section, &#8220;confidential communication&#8221; means a communication made
privately by a person to his spouse that is not intended for disclosure to any
other person.

HISTORY: Code 1950, §§ 8-287, 8-289; 1977, c. 617; 2005, c. 809.