12
order on August 2, 2018, denying Donna’s complaint for absolute divorce, or in the
alternative, limited divorce.
Donna filed a timely motion to alter or amend judgment on August 13, 2018, which
was denied in an order entered on September 13, 2018. Donna noted her appeal on October
So I think constructive desertion, she’s to no longer stay in the same room. I
don’t see him necessarily deserting her per se, if they’re going to make that
decision because she’s not happy with him. But I think this statute is very
clear, that you haven’t met the burden, so it’s denied.
We recognize that Donna does not challenge the trial court’s ruling on constructive
desertion in this appeal. We observe, however, that even as far back as 1952, when the
Count of Appeals decided Scheinin v. Scheinin, a spouse could obtain a limited divorce if
they moved into a separate bedroom on account of the other spouse’s behavior. 200 Md.
282, 291-93 (1952). The Court in Scheinin explained:
Any misconduct of the husband will justify the wife in leaving him when it
makes it impossible for her to live with him without loss of her health or self-
respect, or gives her reasonable apprehension of bodily injury. If the
husband’s misconduct has been such as to render continuance of the
marriage relation unbearable, justifying the wife in leaving him, he is the
one who is guilty of desertion. It is beyond question that there may be a
desertion although the husband and wife continue to live under the same
roof. For desertion, as applied to husband and wife, signifies something
more than merely ceasing to live together. It means ceasing to live together
as husband and wife.
Id. at 290-91 (emphasis added) (citations omitted). It was not required that the husband
“drive his wife from home by force. If ill temper, vile language and artifice succeed, they
are as reprehensible as forcible compulsion. In either case the offending party is responsible
for the separation.” Id. at 292; see also Ricketts v. Ricketts, 393 Md. 479, 489-493 (2006)
(holding that husband stated claim for limited divorce on ground of constructive desertion
because wife “denied him marital relations and forced him from the marital bedroom”
despite “still living under the same roof”); Carpenter v. Carpenter, 257 Md. 218, 225
(1970) (holding that circuit court did not err in granting divorce on ground of constructive
desertion, even though wife left husband, because evidence supported that husband’s
sexual assault, physical and verbal abuse of wife caused her to leave).