Desertion - sustany/dvg GitHub Wiki

Desertion is willful abandonment of a person's duties or obligations, especially to a spouse or child. Some common uses of the term desertion in a legal sense include:

• Desertion is a ground for divorce in states with fault divorce. In the context of divorce, cases such as this one from Virginia explain that �Desertion occurs when one spouse breaks off marital cohabitation with the intent to remain apart permanently, without the consent and against the will of the other spouse.�
• As explained in this case from Georgia, the term �desertion� as an element in the offense of abandonment of a child, means �the willful forsaking and desertion of the duties of parenthood.�
• Desertion can also be the basis for a court to grant an adoption where a parent has deserted a child for a specified period of time. Cases such as this one from Oregon, explain that the term desertion as used in the context of the statute permitting adoption, means�parental conduct which indicates an intention to desert all parental duties and parental rights in the child.