New York's No Fault Divorce
This is the most important change to New York's divorce proceedings. The New York Law Journal on February 9, 2012, published a decision where the state judge ruled that one spouse's affidavit that a marriage is irretrievably broken is all that is needed to terminate a union under New York's new no-fault divorce law, whether or not the other spouse objects. (Vahey v. Vahey, 200434/11, NYLJ 1202541827995, at *1 (Sup., NA, Decided February 3, 2012)).
Domestic Relations Law ยง170[7] states that a union may be terminated by a judge based on the affidavit by one of the spouses that the marriage is no longer functioning and cannot be repaired.
All other issues facing a couple dissolving their relationship, such as the equitable distribution of property and child custody, must be resolved before a judge can grant a divorce under the no-fault statute (NYLJ, July 2, 2010).
