Virginia's residency requirement for divorce is six months: Virginia Code § 20-97 requires that 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." Only one spouse needs to meet it, not both. But it is a two-part test — residence and domicile — and satisfying one without the other is not enough.
That distinction is where most real problems arise, and it arises disproportionately in Northern Virginia because of the region's military, federal and international population.
Residence and domicile are not the same thing
Residence is essentially physical: where you actually live.
Domicile adds intent: the place you treat as your permanent home and to which you intend to return. A person can have several residences but only one domicile.
So a service member stationed in Virginia for three years, who has kept another state as their legal home of record, votes there and pays income tax there, may be a Virginia resident without being a Virginia domiciliary. Conversely someone who has genuinely made Virginia their permanent home may be domiciled here even after a temporary posting abroad.
Courts look at conduct rather than assertions. The kinds of facts that matter include where you are registered to vote, which state issued your driver's license, where your vehicles are registered, where you file and pay state income tax, where you own or rent a home, where your children attend school, and where your professional and community ties sit.
Situations where this gets complicated
Military families. Being stationed at Quantico, Fort Belvoir or the Pentagon does not by itself make Virginia your domicile, and your legal home of record may point elsewhere. Service members also have federal protections affecting civil proceedings during active duty. Both the domicile question and those protections should be worked through before filing rather than after. Our Prince William County page deals with military and federal service families specifically.
Foreign service and international organizations. Long postings abroad raise the question of whether Virginia domicile was retained or abandoned. Documentary evidence of intent to return matters here.
Recent arrivals. If you moved to Northern Virginia five months ago, you cannot file yet on your own residency — but your spouse may qualify, or the clock may simply need to run. Either way it is a question of timing, not of possibility.
Cross-border couples. One spouse in Virginia and the other in Maryland or the District is extremely common here and rarely an obstacle, provided one of you meets the test. Attorney Borden is admitted in both Virginia and Maryland.
Residency is separate from the separation period
These two clocks are often confused, and they run independently.
The residency requirement is six months of residence and domicile before filing. The separation period for a no-fault divorce is one year of living separate and apart without cohabitation and without interruption, or six months where there is a signed separation agreement and no minor children.
They can overlap. Six months of residency does not mean you can file a no-fault divorce after six months unless the separation period has also been satisfied.
Residency questions
Do both spouses have to live in Virginia?
No. The statute requires that one of the parties meets the residency and domicile test.
Does the same rule apply to annulment?
Section 20-97 addresses suits for annulment as well as divorce. Annulment carries its own strict deadlines in addition — see annulment in Virginia.
I am stationed here but domiciled elsewhere. Can I still divorce in Virginia?
Possibly, through your spouse's residency, or on the basis that you have in fact established Virginia domicile. This needs a direct answer on your facts before filing, because getting it wrong can mean a dismissed suit.
What if we married in another state or country?
Where you married is irrelevant to where you can divorce. Virginia residency and domicile are what count.
Can I file in Virginia and Maryland at once?
You should not. Competing filings in two states create jurisdictional disputes that cost far more to unwind than they ever gain. If both are genuinely available, choose deliberately with advice.
How do I prove residency and domicile?
Ordinarily through the documentary indicia listed above — voter registration, license, tax filings, lease or deed, school records. It is rarely contested where the facts are consistent, and rarely straightforward where they are not.
Speak with a Northern Virginia divorce attorney
If your residency or domicile is genuinely uncertain, that is the first question to settle — everything else follows from it. Randall J. Borden has practiced in the Northern Virginia circuit courts since 1995. Call 703-385-8722 or contact the office. See also how to file for divorce in Virginia.
General information about Virginia law, not legal advice. Domicile is fact-specific and depends on your circumstances.