Byrd v. Byrd

In this divorce case, we reexamine the doctrine that one spouse is ordinarily not guilty of legal desertion in separating from the other while a divorce suit is pending between them. Specifically, we must decide whether a divorce suit was frivolous and instituted as a sham to shield the complainant from a charge of desertion.

Billy W. Byrd (husband) and Ruth C. Byrd (wife) had been married 35 years. Their only child was emancipated. The husband, a retired Army colonel, acknowledged an alcohol problem in 1976 and thereafter sought continuing help, which included hospital treatment, meetings of…