Arkansas Code Title 16. Practice, Procedure, and Courts § 16-61-102. Spouses

(a) If a husband and wife are sued together, the wife may defend:

(b) Where a husband, being a father, has deserted his family, the wife, being a mother, may prosecute or defend in his name any action which he might have prosecuted or defended and shall have the same powers and rights therein as he might have had.