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Section 14-05-06 – Desertion defined

May 14, 2021 | Family Law, North Dakota

Willful desertion is the voluntary separation of one of the married parties from the other with intent to desert:

1. Persistent refusal to have reasonable matrimonial intercourse as husband and wife when health or physical condition does not make such refusal reasonably necessary, or the refusal of either party to dwell in the same house with the other party when there is no just cause for such refusal, is desertion.
2. When one party is induced by the stratagem or fraud of the other party to leave the family dwelling place or to be absent, and during such absence the offending party departs with intent to desert the other, it is desertion by the party committing the stratagem or fraud and not by the other.
3. Departure or absence of one party from the family dwelling place caused by cruelty or by threats of bodily harm from which danger reasonably would be apprehended from the other is not desertion by the absent party, but it is desertion by the other party.
4. Separation by consent, with or without the understanding that one of the parties will apply for a divorce, is not desertion.
5. Absence or separation, proper in itself, becomes desertion whenever the intent to desert is fixed during such absence or separation.
6. Consent to a separation is a revocable act, and if one of the parties afterwards in good faith seeks a reconciliation and restoration but the other refuses it, such refusal is desertion.
7. If one party deserts the other and before the expiration of the statutory period required to make the desertion a cause of divorce returns and offers in good faith to fulfill the marriage contract and solicits condonation, the desertion is cured. If the other party refuses such offer and condonation, the refusal must be deemed and treated as desertion by such party from the time of the refusal.

N.D.C.C. ยง 14-05-06