deRonde v. deRonde

The question raised herein is whether the grant by a Massachusetts court to a wife of a decree of legal separation on the ground of abandonment precludes the husband from seeking a divorce in New Hampshire on the basis of irreconcilable differences, pursuant to RSA 458:7-a (Supp. 1975). For reasons which follow below, we hold that the Massachusetts decree presents no barrier to the present New Hampshire action.

The parties, who were married in New Jersey in 1951, subsequently moved to Massachusetts. On January 27, 1975, the Probate Court of Essex County, Massachusetts granted Mrs. deRonde’s…