Grounds for Divorce in Maryland Excesively Vicious Conduct

A little more information on this grounds for divorce in Maryland. According to Family Law § 7-103 (a) (7) & (8) the Court may decree an absolute divorce based upon cruelty of treatment toward the complaining party or a minor child of the complaining party, if there is no reasonable hope of reconciliation or if there is excessively vicious conduct toward the complaining party or a minor child of the complaining party, if there is no reasonable expectation of reconciliation.

The Court defined excessively vicious conduct and cruelty in the matter of Das v. Das, 133 Md. App. 1, 754 A.2d 441 (2000). In Das the Court held in pertinent part that cruelty as a cause for divorce includes any conduct on the part of the husband or wife which is calculated to seriously impair the health or permanently destroy the happiness of the other. As such the court continued any misconduct of a husband that endangers, or creates a reasonable apprehension that it will endanger, the wife's safety or health to a degree rendering it physically or mentally impracticable for her to properly discharge the marital duties constitutes cruelty within the meaning of the divorce statute.