Opinion
12-03-1908
LEE v. LEE.
Hugh B. Reed, for petitioner.
Suit by Joseph M. Lee against Emma Lee. Heard on exceptions of petitioner to the master's report. Exceptions Sustained, and decree granted.
Hugh B. Reed, for petitioner.
GARRISON, V. C. This is an uncontested divorce suit, in which the master reported against granting the decree upon the ground that there was not proven any substantial effort on the part of the husband to induce the wife to return to him after she had left him.
From the proofs, I am convinced that a decree should be advised, as I cannot agree with the master that there is not evidence of the character required. The proofs show that the parties were married in 1900 and lived together until February, 1902. They were then living at Nutley, N. J. One of the household was the half-brother of the defendant. His presence was objectionable to the petitioner. He contributed nothing to the household expenses, although he was employed, and his conduct was such that the petitioner did not desire to have him as a member of his family. The husband and wife disagreed about this matter. After a particular instance of disagreement, which occurred in February of 1902, the wife and her mother, who was temporarily staying there, took their household goods and departed during the absence of the husband. They left word with the elder children of the petitioner (who were not his children by this wife, but by a former wife) that they were going away and would not come back. The desertion is, in my view, plainly proven. The husband testifies to several Instances when he saw his wife and endeavored to induce her to return to live with him. He is clearly corroborated in respect to one of these instances. His eldest son accompanied him to Brooklyn in the year 1903 or 1901 (neither the father nor the son being able to fix the exact time) and overheard a conversation between the parties in which the defendant stated that she would not come back to live with her husband, his father.
The result is that the exceptions must be sustained, and the decree granted, and I will so advise.