[CNICHOLS5]

I went to another state for a family event and my husband ordered me home. I am afraid to go home because of his anger. I have been gone for 4 months now. Can I be charged with abandonment? I don't have peace about a divorce.

[JudyKayTee]

You don't get charged with abandoment. That's grounds for him to divorce you - it's mental cruelty and/or irreconcilable differences.

[AK lawyer]

I went to another state for a family event and my husband ordered me home. I am afraid to go home because of his anger. I have been gone for 4 months now. Can I be charged with abandonment? I don't have peace about a divorce.

We are in the 21st Century now. He can't order you to do anything.

As JKT told you, "abandonment" may be grounds for a divorce, but it doesn't make any difference because one can always get a divorce, anywhere in the US at least, if one wants one.

"Abandonment" might mean something if there are children involved. Are there any?

[cdad]

Yes you can be charged with abandonment of a spouse according to WY law and it is a punishable offence.

Quote:

Spousal Abandonment



Spousal abandonment or desertion is not a specific ground for divorce in Wyoming. The Wyoming Code sets forth grounds for dissolution of marriage in section 20-2-104, which permits divorce based on the ground of irreconcilable differences, and section 20-2-105, which allows divorce after one spouse's commitment to a facility due to incurable insanity for a period of at least two years. However, a spouse who abandons the other spouse may face other legal consequences from section 20-3-101 of the Wyoming Code, through which the state may impose criminal penalties such as a fine or a short term of imprisonment for desertion of a spouse or child.


Read more: Abandonment Laws in Wyoming | eHow.com Abandonment Laws in Wyoming | eHow.com

[ballengerb1]

Lets start with where did you live with your husband and did you have/take kids with you on this trip?

[CNICHOLS5]

Lets start with where did you live with your husband and did you have/take kids with you on this trip?

I went to my mother's funeral. My father was very ill and had to have surgery. I begged my husband to agree to me staying, and he said he'd had it that we were through. I begged him to have some compassion and let me take care of my father. Now, though he is ordering me to come home. My fifteen year old daughter (youngest) had the opportunity to come and stay with me but she and her father refused, in nasty language. My husband has been verbally abusive for our entire marriage and very controlling about who I can see and where I can go. He has become increasingly violent and angry.

[ScottGem]

You need to hire an attorney and sue him for divorce before he charges you. Do you have proof that he refused to all you to care for a sick parent?

Also, I'm afraid you may have already lost your children if they reacted as you described.

[JudyKayTee]

From what I can read the abandonment must be without "good cause or reason." I don't find that here. I also can find no recent arrests for abandonment of a SPOUSE. It's, of course, different with children.

I think this is one of those laws like not being able to walk an ostrich on a leash down Main Street in some cities.

[AK lawyer]

Yes you can be charged with abandonment of a spouse acording to WY law and it is a punishable offence.
...

Thanks, Dad. It's good to know.

"§ 20-3-101. Desertion generally; penalty; public welfare funds; prisoner's earnings; temporary order for support.

(a) Any spouse who, without just cause or lawful excuse, deserts the other spouse or fails or refuses to provide adequately for the support and maintenance of the other spouse and who at the time of leaving, failure or refusal is or thereafter becomes in necessitous circumstances is guilty of a crime, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, or both.
..."

Legal Resources

It's inartfully written. The second "who" seems to refer to the deserted spouse. So the deserted spouse would have to be put in "necessitous circumstances" for the desertion to be a crime.

... I think this is one of those laws like not being able to walk an ostrich on a leash down Main Street in some cities.

I have no way of knowing, but my gut reaction is that was written to remedy the problem of husbands leaving wives in broken down Conestoga wagons without the means to get over the passes to the Oregon Territory before the snows came.