New York No-Fault Divorce: Grounds, Requirements, and How It Works

New York was the last state in the country to adopt no-fault divorce, adding it in October 2010 under DRL Section 170(7). Before that, every New York divorce required proving fault — adultery, cruelty, abandonment, or imprisonment. Today, no-fault is by far the most common ground, but it comes with a requirement that surprises many filers.

The No-Fault Ground: Irretrievable Breakdown

Under DRL 170(7), either spouse swears under oath that the marriage has been irretrievably broken for at least six months. No proof of wrongdoing is needed — just a sworn statement.

The catch: the court will not grant a no-fault divorce until every ancillary issue is fully resolved. That means property division, spousal maintenance, child support, custody, and visitation must all be settled through a written agreement or court order before the judge will sign the Judgment of Divorce.

This is why no-fault divorces that seem straightforward on paper can stall for months — the ground itself is easy to establish, but the requirement to resolve all financial and custodial issues first creates the real bottleneck.

Fault-Based Grounds Still Available

New York recognizes six additional grounds under DRL 170. While rarely used, they remain relevant in specific situations:

Cruel and inhuman treatment (DRL 170(1)): The defendant's conduct endangered the plaintiff's physical or mental health to the point where continued cohabitation is unsafe. The standard of proof rises with the length of the marriage, and there's a five-year statute of limitations under DRL 210.

Abandonment (DRL 170(2)): The defendant voluntarily left without consent, without justification, and with no intent to return, and the abandonment has continued for at least one year. "Constructive abandonment" — refusing sexual relations — also qualifies.

Imprisonment (DRL 170(3)): The defendant has been imprisoned for three or more consecutive years after the marriage. The action can be filed during imprisonment or up to five years after release.

Adultery (DRL 170(4)): The defendant had voluntary sexual intercourse with someone other than their spouse. This ground is difficult to prove because New York requires third-party corroborative evidence — the accusing spouse's testimony alone is insufficient.

Separation decree (DRL 170(5)): The parties have lived separately for one year or more under a court-issued judgment of separation.

Separation agreement (DRL 170(6)): The parties have lived separately for one year or more under a written separation agreement that was signed with the formality of a deed (notarized with a specific "acknowledgement in the form of a deed" notary block), then filed with the County Clerk.

When Fault Grounds Still Matter

Most divorce attorneys recommend the no-fault ground for uncontested cases because it's simpler and doesn't require proving anything beyond irretrievable breakdown. But fault grounds can matter in contested cases where one spouse wants to:

• Establish a pattern of behavior relevant to custody decisions
• Influence the court's equitable distribution analysis (extreme cruelty can shift the property division)
• File without waiting the six-month irretrievable breakdown period (abandonment requires one year, but cruelty or imprisonment may allow faster filing depending on facts)

For an uncontested filing where both spouses agree, DRL 170(7) is almost always the right choice.

The New York Divorce Filing Process Guide covers how to properly plead the no-fault ground in your Summons and Verified Complaint, and explains the settlement resolution requirement that most self-represented filers don't learn about until their packet gets rejected.

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