My question is whether the following scenario constitutes "marital abandonment":
My mother is a 71-year-old woman who purchased a 2nd residence in a state other than her 1st residence. She lives in her 2nd residence 6-8 months per year to get away from the cold or snowy season in the state where her 1st residence is. My father (her husband) is 83 years old and continues to live in the 1st residence throughout the year.
My mother bought the 2nd residence after landing in the hospital 3 winters in a row with severe bronchitis and pneumonia exacerbated by the cold and subsequent dry air heat from the gas furnace. She has claimed residency in her 2nd state for tax purposes. My father did not want to move out of state because everybody he knows is in his first state and he wholly rejects the idea of going anywhere else. In addition, he is in a wheelchair due to a muscular condition but he is completly alert and very independent (and stubborn).
My mother spends late spring and summer at her 1st residence with my father, during which time she keeps house, organizes, and packs the freezer with food she prepares for him. She has arranged for an assistant to come weekly to carry on these activities in her absence. She and my father speak on the phone several time per week.
Is this abandonment in the legal sense?
Thank you

