CHAPTER 100

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 20-91 and 20-121 of the Code of Virginia
as amended, relating respectively, to the grounds for divorce
from the bond of matrimony, and to the merger of a decree for divorce
from bed and board with a decree for divorce from the bond of
matrimony.

[fH 184]

Approved February 23, 1952

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 20-91 and 20-121, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be
amended and reenacted as follows:

§20-91. A divorce from the bond of matrimony may be decreed:

(1) For adultery, or sodomy or buggery;

(2) For natural or incurable impotency of body existing at the time
of entering into the matrimonial contract;

(3) Where either of the parties subsequent to the marriage has
been sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary of this State or of any
other state of the United States or to confinement in a penitentiary of
the United States, and cohabitation has not been resumed after such
confinement (in which case no pardon granted to the party so sentenced
shall restore such party to his or her conjugal rights) ;

(4) Where prior to the marriage, either party, without the knowledge
of the other, had been convicted of an infamous offense;
(5) Where either party charged with an offense punishable with
death or confinement in the penitentiary has been indicted, is a fugitive
from justice, and has been absent for two years;

(6) Where either party wilfully deserts or abandons the other for
* one year such divorce may be decreed to the party abandoned;

(7) Where, at the time of the marriage, the wife without the
knowledge of the husband was with child by some person other than the
husband; and

(8) Where prior to the marriage the wife had been, without the
knowledge of her husband, a prostitute, such divorce may be decreed to
the husband.

§ 20-121. In any case where desertion or cruelty is the ground for
divorce when * one year shall have elapsed from the time of such desertion
or when * one year 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 matri-
mony, if the court shall be of opinion, from the evidence so taken, that
no reconciliation has taken place, or is probable, and that a separation 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 * one year shall
have elapsed after the entering of a decree for divorce from bed and board,
or when * one year shall have elapsed from the time the parties separated
when cruelty is charged or when * one year 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 discre-
tion, 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 continued 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.