Flohr v. Flohr
| Decision Date | 07 June 1950 |
| Docket Number | 184. |
| Citation | 73 A.2d 874,195 Md. 482 |
| Parties | FLOHR v. FLOHR. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Robert E. Clapp, Jr., Frederick, for appellant.
Charles McC. Mathias and Charles McC. Mathias, Jr., Frederick, for appellee.
Before MARBURY, C J., and DELAPLAINE, COLLINS, HENDERSON and MARKELL, JJ.
The chronology of this case is as follows. The parties were married on July 18 1943, he being then twenty years old and she nineteen. They had two children, one of whom died at birth and the other, a boy, is now in the custody of the appellee. They lived together, with the exception of some periods of separation, until January 10, 1949, when the wife left the home. The wife had threatened to leave before, the first time in September, 1947. In May, 1948, she stayed away for 29 days and then returned. Some time that Fall they had another disagreement, the husband left for a day or two, and, while he was away, the wife left. That time she brought suit in Washington County for abandonment, but that was finally dropped and the parties went on a trip together. Then came the last separation in January, 1949.
It is neither necessary nor advisable to overload this opinion with the details of the voluminous testimony on either side. It is sufficient to say that the couple first went to live in an apartment in his parents' home at Blue Ridge Summit. Her parents lived across the state line in Pennsylvania. From the early years of the marriage the husband apparently spent may nights away from home, and had at least one girl to whom he was paying some attention. From his testimony and his general attitude he does not seem to have taken a serious view of his marital obligations, and at least twice, seems to have attempted to be unfaithful to his wife, although the evidence does not show that he was. This general attitude on the part of the husband did not help matters at home, and the parties discussed divorce many times. Finally in order to get away from too much parental interference, perhaps on both sides, the husband got an apartment in Sabillasville, where they went to live. The husband suggested to his wife that they get a divorce and divide the custody of the little son, but the wife insisted that under no circumstances would she give up the child, although she did not object to his seeing him. This was not satisfactory to him, and so they went on living together until the last separation.
The husband sued for divorce a mensa on the ground of abandonment. The wife filed a cross-bill for a similar divorce on the ground of abandonment. Much testimony was taken, and after a consideration of this testimony which had been taken before an Examiner, the Chancellor dismissed both the bill and the cross-bill. From that decree the husband appealed, but the appellee did not appeal. We have, therefore, before us only the question of whether the husband is entitled to a divorce on the record.
On Sunday, January 9th, according to the husband's testimony, the parties went riding, taking along two young girls, one 12 and one 14 and a boy of 5, all of whom lived in the same apartment house. They went by the home of the husband's parents, stopped for a few minutes, then stopped at the cemetery where their first child was buried, got some ice cream cones somewhere, had a little Sunday drive around the mountains, and came home. The wife took the baby upstairs. The two girls walked up the road to take some pictures, and the little son of the landlord asked the husband to take him along with them. They went up the road, and stayed about fifteen minutes. When they came back the husband found that the wife had telephoned her mother to come up and get the baby. The mother and father's car came up. There was some argument, and the husband said that if the baby went the wife would have to go too. He finally took the baby, and went in the landlord's kitchen. The wife then made quite a scene to get her baby, finally a policeman was called by the landlord, and the husband took the baby upstairs in his own apartment. Everything then calmed down, and the husband invited the wife to go out to supper, but she declined. He started to go, but then stayed downstairs in the landlord's apartment to see what was going to happen. After a short while the wife's parents and her brother-in-law came up in their cars, and the wife came downstairs with the baby. The husband then made his presence known, and found all the suitcases packed and ready to go. He would not let her go, and the argument continued until about midnight. The next morning, when the husband started to go to work, the wife said, The husband had to go to Baltimore that day with his father on some business, and in the afternoon he found his wife moved out and gone. She had written on the back of the wedding picture, ...
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