Legal Definitions - marital-communications privilege

The marital-communications privilege is a legal protection that allows spouses to keep confidential any communications made between them during their marriage. This means that neither spouse can be forced to testify in court about private conversations they had with their spouse during their marriage.

For example, if a husband and wife are involved in a legal case and the husband made a statement to his wife during their marriage that is relevant to the case, the wife cannot be forced to testify about that statement in court. This is because the marital-communications privilege protects the confidentiality of their private conversations.

Another example is if a wife confesses to her husband that she committed a crime, the husband cannot be forced to testify about that confession in court. The marital-communications privilege applies even if the couple is no longer married at the time of the legal case.

The purpose of the marital-communications privilege is to encourage open and honest communication between spouses without fear that their private conversations will be used against them in court. It is important to note that the privilege only applies to communications made during the marriage and does not extend to communications made before or after the marriage.