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, "confidential communication" means a communication made privately by a person to his spouse that is not intended for disclosure to any other person.
Code 1950, §§ 8-287, 8-289; 1977, c. 617; 2005, c. 809.
Structure Code of Virginia
Title 8.01 - Civil Remedies and Procedure
§ 8.01-386. Judicial notice of laws (Supreme Court Rule 2:202 derived in part from this section)
§ 8.01-387. Notice by courts and officers of signatures of judges and Governor
§ 8.01-390.1. School records as evidence
§ 8.01-390.2. Reports by Chief Medical Examiner received as evidence
§ 8.01-392. When court order book or equivalent is lost or illegible, what matters may be reentered
§ 8.01-394. How contents of any such lost record, etc., proved
§ 8.01-395. Validating certain proceedings under § 8.01-394
§ 8.01-396. No person incompetent to testify by reason of interest, or because a party
§ 8.01-396.1. Competency of witness
§ 8.01-401.2. Chiropractor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant as expert witness
§ 8.01-401.2:1. Podiatrist as an expert witness
§ 8.01-405. Who may administer oath to witness
§ 8.01-407.1. Identity of persons communicating anonymously over the Internet
§ 8.01-408. Recognizance taken upon continuance of case
§ 8.01-410. Inmates as witnesses in civil actions
§ 8.01-412.2. Authorization of audio-visual deposition; official record; uses
§ 8.01-412.3. Notice of audio-visual deposition
§ 8.01-412.6. Promulgation of rules for standards and guidelines
§ 8.01-412.10. Issuance of subpoena
§ 8.01-412.11. Service of subpoena
§ 8.01-412.12. Deposition, production, and inspection
§ 8.01-412.13. Application to court
§ 8.01-412.14. Uniformity of application and construction; reciprocal privileges
§ 8.01-412.15. Application to pending actions
§ 8.01-413.01. Authenticity and reasonableness of medical bills; presumption
§ 8.01-414. Affidavit prima facie evidence of nonresidence
§ 8.01-415. Affidavit evidence of publication
§ 8.01-416. Affidavit re damages to motor vehicle
§ 8.01-418.2. Evidence of polygraph examination inadmissible in any proceeding
§ 8.01-419. Table of life expectancy
§ 8.01-419.1. Motor vehicle value
§ 8.01-420. Depositions as basis for motion for summary judgment or to strike evidence
§ 8.01-420.1. Abolition of common-law perpetuation of testimony
§ 8.01-420.2. Limitation on use of recorded conversations as evidence
§ 8.01-420.4. Taking of depositions
§ 8.01-420.4:1. Taking of depositions; corporate officers
§ 8.01-420.5. Estoppel effect of judicial determination of employment status
§ 8.01-420.6. Number of witnesses whose depositions may be taken
§ 8.01-420.7. Attorney-client privilege and work product protection; limitations on waiver
§ 8.01-420.8. Protection of confidential information in court files