8.01-398 - Privileged marital communications. - Virginia Statutes

§ 8.01-398. Privileged marital communications.

Husband and wife shall be competent witnesses to testify for or against eachother in all civil actions.

In any civil proceeding, a person has a privilege to refuse to disclose, andto prevent anyone else from disclosing, any confidential communicationbetween his spouse and him during their marriage, regardless of whether he ismarried to that spouse at the time he objects to disclosure. This privilegemay not be asserted in any proceeding in which the spouses are adverseparties, or in which either spouse is charged with a crime or tort againstthe person or property of the other or against the minor child of eitherspouse. For the purposes of this section, "confidential communication"means a communication made privately by a person to his spouse that is notintended for disclosure to any other person.

(Code 1950, §§ 8-287, 8-289; 1977, c. 617; 2005, c. 809.)