Virginia Form VS-4: Report of Divorce or Annulment

Form VS-4 is a vital records form, not a pleading. It does not ask the court for anything and nothing in it affects the outcome of your case. It is also the form most likely to stop your final decree from being entered, which is why it deserves a page of its own.

What it is

The VS-4 is Virginia’s statistical record of every divorce and annulment granted in the Commonwealth. The Virginia Department of Health uses it to maintain vital records. It captures the names and dates of birth of both parties, the date and place of the marriage, the date of separation, the number of minor children, and the ground on which the divorce was granted.

When you file it

With the final decree — not with the complaint. This is the single most common point of confusion. You draft and file the Complaint for Divorce to start the case. Months later, when the case is ready to conclude, the VS-4 goes to the clerk along with the proposed final decree. Some clerks will not enter a final decree without it.

Check your local practice; a few clerks prefer it lodged earlier in the file.

Where to get it

The clerk’s office at your circuit court provides VS-4 forms at the civil counter. It is a vital records form rather than a court form, so it is not in the DC-series form library.

The corrections rule

No white-out. No correction fluid, no correction tape, no crossed-out entries, no writing over an error. If you make a mistake, you complete a new form. Clerks reject VS-4s for this constantly. Fill it out slowly, and if you are handwriting it, print.

What you need in front of you

• Both parties’ full legal names, including maiden name
• Both dates and places of birth
• The date and place of the marriage — the county or city, not just the state
• The date of separation, which must match what your pleadings say
• Number of minor children of the marriage
• The statutory ground for divorce as it appears in your decree

That last point matters. If your decree grants divorce on the ground of living separate and apart for the statutory period, the VS-4 should say so. A mismatch between the form and the decree will get flagged.

Why the date of separation has to match

Your complaint alleged a separation date. Your corroborating testimony or affidavit confirmed it. If the VS-4 shows a different date, you have created an inconsistency in the record of your own case. It is usually a transcription error. It is still worth ten seconds of checking.

Name changes

If you are restoring a former name as part of the divorce, that is handled in the decree itself, not on the VS-4. Virginia does not charge a separate name change application fee when the change is incident to divorce, though the clerk may charge a recording fee to index the order.