CHAPTER 362

AN ACT to amend and reenact § 20-121 of the Code of 1950,
relating to merger of decrees for divorce from bed and
board with decree for divorce from bond of ne eee :

H 297
Approved April 5, 1950

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 20-121 of the Code of 1950 be amended and re-
enacted as follows:

§ 20-121. Merger of decree for divorce from bed and
board with decree for divorce from bond of matrimony.—In any
case where desertion or cruelty is the ground for divorce when
two years shall have elapsed from the time of such desertion
or when two years shall have elapsed from the time the parties
separated when cruelty is charged, upon application of the party
injured, and upon the production of satisfactory evidence,
whether taken theretofore or in support of such application, the
court may merge such decree for divorce from bed and board
into a decree for a divorce from the bonds of matrimony, if the
court shall be of opinion, from the evidence so taken, that no
reconciliation has taken place, or is probable, and that a separa-
tion has continued without interruption since the granting of
such divorce. It shall not be necessary to give the guilty party
notice of the taking of depositions in any case in which the only
purpose of the proceeding is to merge the decree for divorce
from bed and board into a decree for a divorce from the bonds
of matrimony, and to allow the wife if she so desires, to resume
her maiden name, nor shall it be necessary to give the guilty
party notice of application to the court in any case in which the
only purpose of the proceeding is to merge the decree for divorce
from bed and board into a decree for a divorce from the bonds
of matrimony and to allow the wife, if she desires, to resume
her maiden name. And when two years shall have elapsed after
the entering of a decree for divorce from bed and board, or
when two years shall have elapsed from the time the parties
separated when cruelty is charged or when two years shall have
elapsed from the time of such desertion, upon application of the
guilty party to such divorce proceedings, after giving to the *
other party in the original action ten days notice, and upon the
production of satisfactory evidence whether taken theretofore, or
in support of such application, the court may, in its discretion,
merge such decree for divorce from bed and board into a decree
for a divorce from the bonds of matrimony, if the court shall be
of the opinion from the evidence so taken, that no reconciliation
has taken place, or is probable, and that a separation has con-
tinued without interruption since the granting of such divorce,
and the court may also make such provision as is proper for
the maintenance and support of wife and children, if any, in
accordance with the right of the case. The provisions of this
and the preceding section shall apply to the divorces from bed
and board, which have been heretofore as well as those which
may be hereafter granted.