Bennington v. Bennington
Court of Appeals of Ohio
381 N.E.2d 1355 (1978)
Mary Bennington (plaintiff) became permanently disabled after a 1963 stroke, and the couple stopped having sex; in 1974 Larry Bennington (defendant) moved from the house into a van on the same property because Mary kept the house extremely hot and bolted the doors, but he continued helping her and doing household chores. After a brief unrelated trip to Arizona and back, Larry lived in the van for a few more months before moving to an apartment. Mary sued for alimony on grounds of neglect and abandonment; Larry counterclaimed for divorce based partly on the couple having lived separately and apart for at least two years without cohabitation, counting his time in the van toward that period. The trial court granted Larry's divorce on that ground, and Mary appealed.
Whether a husband living in a van on the same property as the marital home, while continuing to perform the same household and marital functions as before, is living separately and apart from his wife for purposes of a no-cohabitation divorce ground.