What is the ruling on the behavior of a wife who tells her mother everything, whose mother interferes significantly in their marital life, and who refuses to return to the marital home, claiming inability to care for her husband and perform household chores, knowing that the marital home has not been cleaned for over a year and that the husband's family does not interfere in their lives? And how should the husband act in this situation?

It is the husband's right to return to his home, and the wife is not entitled to refuse this unless she stipulated in the marriage contract that she would not leave her family's home. The wife's mother is not entitled to interfere except by offering good counsel, and the wife's obedience to her husband is more obligatory than her obedience to her mother. It is advisable for the spouses to foster understanding and cooperation, to be patient, and for each to consider the other.