GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE: NO-FAULT or FAULT ?

In order to file for a divorce in New York State you must have a ground (a legally acceptable reason) for the granting of a divorce by the New York courts. The legally acceptable reasons, or grounds for divorce, in New York are:

(1) cruel and inhuman treatment;

(2) abandonment for one year;

(3) imprisonment for three years;

(4) adultery;

(5) living separate and apart for over one year pursuant to a separation judgment or decree with satisfactory proof of substantial performance of same.

The most common ground for an uncontested divorce is abandonment for one year, including when the Defendant refused to have sexual relations with the Plaintiff despite Plaintiff’s repeated requests to resume such relations.