Each state has unique grounds in which a divorce may be granted by the court. When choosing the grounds for your divorce, you should always remember that you must have sufficient proof to the court that your marital situation warrants a divorce by the grounds you are requesting the divorce to be granted.

Grounds for Filing: The Complaint for Divorce must declare the appropriate Virginia grounds upon which the divorce is being sought. The appropriate lawful ground will be that which the parties agree upon and can substantiate, or that which the filing spouse desires to prove to the court. The divorce grounds are as follows:

Divorce from the bond of matrimony may be decreed:

(1) Living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for one year with children.

(2) Living separately and apart without cohabitation and without interruption for six months without children.

(1) For adultery or sodomy;

(2) Imprisonment for more than one year;

(3) Where either party has been guilty of cruelty;

(4) Willfully deserted or abandoned the other.

(Virginia Code - Title 20 - Sections: 20-91)

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