Legal Question in Family Law in District of Columbia

Re: When can I file for Divorce?

Assuming that the verbal abuse cannot be construed as the cruelty grounds referenced in Va. Code Sec. 20-91(6) of the Commonwealth's divorce statute, I would say that lawyer #2 has the time period right(assuming that there are no children born/adopted of your marriage)but that the element of forgiveness probably is not a relevant factor in your particular situation since the verbal abuse which you've referenced probably would not meet the definition of cruelty required under the statute and, therefore, you would most likely be filing for your divorce on a no fault ground which requires a minimum separation of six months if there are no children as mentioned above.

Re: When can I file for Divorce?

Further note: Verbal abuse certainly could qualify as mental cruelty if it were chronic and pervasive, e.g. day after day, etc., and, thereby, consequently, could qualify as a valid grounds for divorce in the Commonwealth, but verbal abuse which is casual and sporadic and which quite often occurs from time to time in many marriages is unlikely to qualify

as the mental cruelty grounds required for divorce.