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This entry was published on 2024-02-02
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SECTION 170
Action for divorce
Domestic Relations (DOM) CHAPTER 14, ARTICLE 10
§ 170. Action for divorce. An action for divorce may be maintained by
a husband or wife to procure a judgment divorcing the parties and
dissolving the marriage on any of the following grounds:

(1) The cruel and inhuman treatment of the plaintiff by the defendant
such that the conduct of the defendant so endangers the physical or
mental well being of the plaintiff as renders it unsafe or improper for
the plaintiff to cohabit with the defendant.

(2) The abandonment of the plaintiff by the defendant for a period of
one or more years.

(3) The confinement of the defendant in prison for a period of three
or more consecutive years after the marriage of plaintiff and defendant.

* (4) The commission of an act of adultery, provided that adultery for
the purposes of articles ten, eleven, and eleven-A of this chapter, is
hereby defined as the commission of an act of sexual intercourse, oral
sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct, voluntarily performed by the
defendant, with a person other than the plaintiff after the marriage of
plaintiff and defendant. Oral sexual conduct and anal sexual conduct
include, but are not limited to, sexual conduct as defined in
subdivision two of section 130.00 and subdivision three of section
130.20 of the penal law.

* NB Effective until September 1, 2024

* (4) The commission of an act of adultery, provided that adultery for
the purposes of articles ten, eleven, and eleven-A of this chapter, is
hereby defined as the commission of an act of vaginal sexual contact,
oral sexual contact or anal sexual contact, voluntarily performed by the
defendant, with a person other than the plaintiff after the marriage of
plaintiff and defendant. Oral sexual contact and anal sexual contact
include, but are not limited to, sexual conduct as defined in
subdivision two of section 130.00 and subdivision four of section 130.20
of the penal law.

* NB Effective September 1, 2024

(5) The husband and wife have lived apart pursuant to a decree or
judgment of separation for a period of one or more years after the
granting of such decree or judgment, and satisfactory proof has been
submitted by the plaintiff that he or she has substantially performed
all the terms and conditions of such decree or judgment.

(6) The husband and wife have lived separate and apart pursuant to a
written agreement of separation, subscribed by the parties thereto and
acknowledged or proved in the form required to entitle a deed to be
recorded, for a period of one or more years after the execution of such
agreement and satisfactory proof has been submitted by the plaintiff
that he or she has substantially performed all the terms and conditions
of such agreement. Such agreement shall be filed in the office of the
clerk of the county wherein either party resides. In lieu of filing such
agreement, either party to such agreement may file a memorandum of such
agreement, which memorandum shall be similarly subscribed and
acknowledged or proved as was the agreement of separation and shall
contain the following information: (a) the names and addresses of each
of the parties, (b) the date of marriage of the parties, (c) the date of
the agreement of separation and (d) the date of this subscription and
acknowledgment or proof of such agreement of separation.

(7) The relationship between husband and wife has broken down
irretrievably for a period of at least six months, provided that one
party has so stated under oath. No judgment of divorce shall be granted
under this subdivision unless and until the economic issues of equitable
distribution of marital property, the payment or waiver of spousal
support, the payment of child support, the payment of counsel and
experts' fees and expenses as well as the custody and visitation with
the infant children of the marriage have been resolved by the parties,
or determined by the court and incorporated into the judgment of
divorce.