Emily Jane Goodman

Gotham Gazette

Forty-nine states in this country recognize “no fault” divorce or allow divorce for “irreconcilable differences.” Only New York requires that one party in all contested divorces establish that the other was at “fault.” Unless a prior separation agreement has been filed, the state’s law requires the plaintiff partner prove the other spouse committed adultery, abandoned them, was cruel or in prison.

Now, in Davis v. Davis, a Brooklyn appellate court has rejected a claim that might have expanded the grounds for divorce in the state. The court would not grant the wife a divorce after a 41-year marriage on the grounds of “social abandonment.” Instead, the court ruled that social abandonment is not abandonment; only physical or sexual abandonment qualifies.

Source: http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/law/20100127/13/3164/