In Brief
The wife appealed after a Family Court granted the husband a divorce decree on grounds of mental cruelty. The husband had alleged nine instances of cruelty, mostly isolated incidents from 1999–2006 (condoned by the parties' continued cohabitation and birth of a second daughter in 2006) and one vague allegation from 2010. The Supreme Court held that cruelty requires recurring or continuing conduct in proximate time to the petition's filing. Stale, isolated, and condoned incidents cannot constitute mental cruelty. The husband failed to prove cruelty; evidence showed he withdrew from the wife without reasonable cause. The Court dismissed the divorce petition and granted the wife's petition for restitution of conjugal rights, restoring the marriage.",
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