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HEADNOTE Wayne Edward Flanagan v. Stephanie Bonn Flanagan, No. 395, September Term, 2007 GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE; ABSOLUTE DIVORCE; VOLUNTARY SEPARATION; CONSTRUCTIVE DESERTION; HARMLESS ERROR; MARITAL PROPERTY; MON ETAR Y AW ARD ; RULE 9-207 JO INT ST ATEM ENT; CRAWFORD CREDITS. The circuit court erred in granting appellee an absolute divorce on the ground of voluntary separation, because neither party asserted that ground and the record did not show the requisite agreement to sepa rate for twelve mon ths prior to filing for divorce. Ap pellant's filing of a counter-com plaint for div orce on a f ault-based g round did not establish h is agreement to a no-fault divorce. Nevertheless, the error was harmless because both parties sought a divorce; the record supported a divorce on grounds of constructive desertion; and the court made factual findings tantamount to a finding of constructive desertion. The court abused its discretion by granting a monetary award to appellee that amounted to nearly 87% of the value of the marital property. The court did no t explain the basis for the disparate award , and the court's analysis of the factors relevant to distribution of ma rital prop erty was f lawed in seve ral respe cts. Where the parties agreed in a Rule 9-2 07 joint statem ent to the div ision of certa in items of marital property, the agreement rendered the property non -marital, and the co urt did not err in excluding that property from the marital property "pool." But, with respect to a monetary award, the court erred in failing to acc ount for the parties' non -marital prop erty in its analysis o f the eq uities be tween the parti es purs uant to F .L.

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Maryland Law