Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

Re: Beginning A Divorce/Annulment

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, one normally begins the process of filing for divorce or annulment by filing a complaint with the civil division of the circuit court in the city or county where the filer currently resides. There is a limited less than complete divorce avilable in Virginia called a divorce or decree from bed and board, but it too requires the filing of a formal complaint.

However, if the parties prefer not to actually start the divorce process in court, they can still work out a Property Settlement Agreement(PSA) between them to settle the important issues in the marriage such as the division of marital property, support, custody, visitation, as well as other important issues if there be such.

The PSA can then be held until such time as one of the spouses decides to initiate formal proceedings for the divorce.