Family Law

Results of New York State?s No-Fault Divorce

By ckramer

There could be a major change in the works for New York?s archaic style of divorce, the New York Times reports.

Currently, for a citizen of the state of New York state to get a divorce, one of the limited number of allowable reasons have to be given. These reasons include, adultery, cruelty, imprisonment or abandonment.

This style of divorce law has had a number of negative consequences which affect both the spouses seeking a divorce and the legal system as a whole.

The legal system takes a hit because it forces people to flirt with or commit perjury in order to satisfy one of the permissible reasons for divorce when the most reasonable one isn?t good enough: namely, ?I don?t like my spouse anymore.?

Malcolm S. Taub, a veteran Manhattan matrimonial lawyer described the current system as ?institutionalized perjury? and that said that ?this play-acting goes on and everybody looks the other way and follows the script.?

The courts seemed to be trying to phase it out as well. A phrase like, ?he bought me a gym membership? is a magic phrase that indicates the husband thought the wife was fat, and could constitute enough of a reason if both sides want a divorce. Robert S. Cohen, a leading New York divorce lawyer stated that, ?There?s a clear feeling among the judges that fault should have been long gone from our system.?

State Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Sunshine feels that the current system is an invasion of privacy and has no place in our modern society. ?Should we really,? Justice Sunshine asked, ?in the 21st century be having people get on the stand and testify that ?my spouse refused to have sex with me???

There are instances where a wealthy spouse refuses to go along with the all-too-common charade in order to keep their money. If a spouse becomes wealthy or never signed a prenuptial agreement, then it is often more economical for him or her to keep their spouse in a loveless relationship to avoid the cost of dividing the wealth.

Another negative effect of the current fault system of divorce is the cost. There are many couples in New York that want a divorce, but cannot afford a divorce attorney who can help them learn the magic words to say in order to be granted one.

Currently, if no fault is claimed, then both sides would need to sign an agreement and then live apart for a year. The new proposed plan would get rid of the necessity for an agreement, thus allowing divorces to happen much easier.

The State Senate approved a bill that would remove this need for fault, and soon there could be a final vote that would make this law. New York residents could then be afforded the same rights that people enjoy in nearly every other jurisdiction in the United States.

Full post as published by The Divorce Blog on July 01, 2010 (boomark / email).