Should Phone Conversations Reset Separation Time?

In Maryland, it is required that a couple stay separated for a full year before divorcing. If the one of the members involved in the divorce spends the night at the other's residence the separation period will have to start over. Should someone be penalized if they engage in phone conversation or texting with their former spouse? The following article discusses a case that is similar to this situation...

Nick and Jeanine Bergeris married in Maryland in 2006. In June 2010, Jeanine sought and received a restraining order against Nick, which led him to move out. After the order expired six months later, the couple continued to reside in separate residences. They did resume an intermittent sexual relationship, but that ended as well in March 2011. After that time, the parties never spent a night under the same roof and never had in-person intimate contact. But the wife argues, and the husband concedes, that they communicated via telephone calls and text messages that “were of an explicit or provocative sexual nature.” - See more at: http://verdict.justia.com/2014/05/13/married-couples-phone-sex-force-divorce-clock-reset#sthash.7750n7Gy.dpuf

— Joanna L. Grossman