Hollis v. Hollis

16 Va.App. 74 (1993)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

H admitted that he was engaged in an adulterous relationship with another woman before H and W separated. H asserted that W had urged him to date the other woman and that he had entered into a relationship only after W encouraged it. H introduced a letter where W wrote that she wished to be free from her marriage but was afraid that H would 'marry some bimbo.' W had seen H talking to the other woman at a Christmas party and hoped that H would fall in love with the other woman so that the wife could get out of her marriage. She said, 'I want so badly for [the husband] to fall in love and share the rest of his life with someone who really loves him; someone like [the other woman], or even [the other woman].' In another letter, she wrote that she wanted her husband and the other woman to 'rent an apartment and live together for one year as man and wife every day.' H and W also signed a document stating that the W 'consent[ed] to [the husband] moving out of our home.' In it, she also said that she was 'aware that this could entail his moving in and living with another female.' She agreed that she would not 'use this against him as grounds for divorce or punitive action.' The trial court found that the husband's adultery resulted from the wife's 'connivance and procurement' and granted the husband a divorce on no-fault grounds. W appealed.