148 A.2d 461 | D.C. | 1959
Appellant appeals from a final judgment dismissing his suit for absolute divorce on the ground of desertion. The parties were married in April 1943 in Maryland when appellant was in the service. After
Appellant testified that he received information from his wife’s physicians that the District of Columbia was not the place to bring a tubercular patient, and that his wife told him she preferred to go to a dry climate. Appellant has not seen his wife or requested her to join him since her discharge from the hospital.
This court has held that the husband has the right to choose the place where the family will live, and so long as he acts reasonably, the unjustified refusal of the wife to follow constitutes desertion if it persists for the statutory period. However, the rule is not without qualification; it requires that this marital right be exercised in good faith with due regard to the health, welfare and peace of mind of the wife. It cannot be used as the basis for a divorce proceeding.
Affirmed.
. Matthews v. Matthews, D.C.Mun.App., 1958, 145 A.2d 286, and cases cited therein.
. Bennett v. Bennett, 1951, 197 Md. 408, 79 A.2d 513, 29 A.L.R.2d 467.