How to Fill Out the Virginia VS-4 Report of Divorce or Annulment

The Virginia VS-4 form is the one-page Report of Divorce or Annulment that the petitioner or their attorney completes and hands to the Clerk of the Circuit Court so the judge can enter a final decree. No completed VS-4, no signed decree. The clerk then forwards the report to the Virginia Department of Health, which keeps the statewide record of the dissolution.

Where to Get the Form

Pick up a blank VS-4 at the civil counter of the Clerk’s Office in the circuit court handling your case, or at your local health department.¹ It isn’t posted for download on the Virginia Judicial System’s website. The form is a multi-part paper document designed to produce carbon copies, so a printout won’t do. If you have an attorney, their office almost certainly keeps copies on hand or will get one from the clerk before your hearing.

Information to Gather Before You Sit Down

Virginia law requires every divorce or annulment report to include each party’s Social Security number (or, alternatively, a Virginia DMV control number), the age of both parties, and the number of minor children involved.² The form itself, prescribed by the Board of Health, asks for a good deal more than that statutory minimum. Have the following ready:

Court information: the circuit court’s name, the city or county, your case number, and the date of the decree.
Each party’s personal details: full legal name (maiden name for the wife, if applicable), current mailing address, date of birth, state or country of birth, race, ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic), and highest completed education level.
Marriage information: the exact date and place (city/county and state or country) where you were married.
Divorce or annulment details: whether the decree is a divorce or an annulment, the legal grounds, the date the original complaint was filed, and the date of the final decree.
Children: the total number of minor children from the marriage and who was awarded custody (mother, father, joint, other, or no children).
Attorney information: name and Virginia State Bar number, if represented.

The education-level field uses standard vital-statistics categories running from “no schooling completed” up through doctoral and professional degrees. Pick the highest level actually finished, not what someone was enrolled in.

Match the Grounds to Your Decree

The grounds you list on the VS-4 have to match what appears in the final decree. Virginia recognizes several bases for an absolute divorce:

Living separate and apart for one year. This is the most common no-fault ground. If you have a signed separation agreement and no minor children, the waiting period drops to six months.³
Adultery, sodomy, or buggery. No waiting period required.³
Felony conviction. Applies when a spouse was convicted of a felony after the marriage, sentenced to more than one year of confinement, and actually imprisoned, and the couple did not resume living together afterward.³
Cruelty, apprehension of bodily harm, or willful desertion. Requires a one-year waiting period from the date of the act.³

Copy the grounds exactly as they appear in your complaint and decree. If the wording on the form doesn’t line up, the clerk may hand it back for a fix.

Filling It Out

Use black ink and write clearly. Because the form produces carbon copies, pressing firmly enough for the duplicates to be legible matters more than on an ordinary document. Complete every field. If something doesn’t apply (say, there are no minor children), write “none” or “N/A” rather than leaving a blank.

Cross-check every entry against your court paperwork. The names, dates, and case number on the VS-4 need to match the complaint, the separation agreement (if any), and the final decree word for word. This is where most errors happen. A transposed digit in a birth date or a misspelled middle name creates a mismatch between the court record and the state vital record, and it can cause real trouble years later when someone needs a certified copy.

The Social Security number field deserves extra attention. Virginia law lets you provide a DMV-issued control number in place of an SSN.² If either party is uncomfortable putting an SSN on the form, ask the clerk whether the DMV control number will be accepted in your jurisdiction. Personal identifiers like SSNs are not included in the aggregate public data the State Registrar publishes.⁴

When and How to Submit

The statute says the VS-4 information “shall be furnished, with the petition or when filing the decree.”² In practice, timing varies by jurisdiction. Some courts expect the completed VS-4 when you first file the complaint for divorce.⁵ Others require it when the final decree is entered. Either way, the decree will not be entered until the VS-4 is provided.⁶ Ask your clerk’s office early so you aren’t scrambling on the day of your hearing.

The VS-4 carries no separate filing fee; it’s part of the divorce case package. Divorce filing fees in Virginia vary by locality and case type, so contact your circuit court clerk or use the fee calculator at vacourts.gov for the exact cost in your jurisdiction.⁷

What Happens After You Submit

Once the clerk accepts the VS-4 and the judge signs the decree, the clerk certifies the form and handles the rest. By law, the clerk must forward the report to the State Registrar by the tenth day of the month following the month in which the decree was granted.⁸ If your divorce is finalized on March 15, the clerk has until April 10 to get the VS-4 to the Virginia Department of Health. State-level processing typically adds another two to four weeks, and longer during busy periods.

One boundary worth flagging: once the final decree is entered, you are legally free to remarry in Virginia. The exception is if objections to the decree are filed and a bond stays its execution, in which case neither party may remarry while the appeal is pending.⁹

Fixing Errors After Filing

If you catch a mistake on the VS-4 after it has been filed, a wrong birth date, a misspelled name, an incorrect marriage date, the correction runs through the circuit court, not directly through the health department. Marriage and divorce record amendments are handled by the circuit court where the original case was filed; once the court grants the correction, it forwards the amended order to the Office of Vital Records.¹⁰ You’ll generally need supporting documentation, such as a birth certificate or passport, to prove the correct information. Contact the clerk’s office in the court that handled your divorce to find out exactly what they require.

Catching errors before the decree is entered is far easier than fixing them afterward. Ten minutes reviewing every field against your complaint and decree can save months of follow-up filings.

Year-End Timing Matters for Taxes

The date the decree is entered affects your federal return for the entire year. The IRS determines filing status based on whether you were married or divorced on December 31.¹¹ If the decree is signed on or before that date, you are considered unmarried for the full tax year and will file as single, or, if eligible, head of household. If your divorce isn’t finalized until January, even by a single day, you are treated as married for the entire preceding year.

For divorces that are nearly final in late fall, that timing matters. A VS-4 that isn’t ready in time can delay entry of the decree past December 31, leaving you filing as married filing separately (or jointly, if both parties agree) for that tax year. The “considered unmarried” exception for head-of-household status requires, among other things, that your spouse did not live in your home during the last six months of the year and that a dependent child lived with you for more than half the year.¹² Having the VS-4 finished and reviewed well before any end-of-year hearing removes one avoidable bottleneck.

1
Loudoun County. Divorce Information
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 32.1-268 – Reports of Divorces and Annulments
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-91 – Grounds for Divorce From Bond of Matrimony
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 32.1-268.1 – Compilation and Posting of Marriage, Divorce, and Annulment Data
5
Rockingham County, VA. Divorce Information and Forms
6
Arlington County Virginia Government. Divorce
7
Virginia Judicial System Court Self-Help. Filing Fees and Waivers
8
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Title 32.1, Chapter 7, Article 5 – Marriage Records and Divorce and Annulment Reports
9
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-118 – Prohibition of Remarriage Pending Appeal From Divorce Decree
10
Virginia Department of Health. OVR Online – How it Works
11
Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status
12
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals