CHAPTER 326

Act to amend and reenact § 20-121, as amended, of the Code of

Virginia, relating to merger of decree of divorce from bed and board

into a final decree of divorce and other procedural matters relating
ereto.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 20-121, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted 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 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 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 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 or a former
married 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 or a former married name; but
no final decree for divorce entered in such a case shall terminate or other-
wise affect any restraining order, or order for the payment of costs,
counsel fees, alimony or support money except as specifically provided in
such decree. 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 pro-
duction 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 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.