It’s finally here! Gov. Patterson signed the no-fault divorce legislation package yesterday, and annonced the signing today. New York now joins the other 49 states in providing for a no-fault divorce. The new law lets a person divorce on the ground that their marriage has been irretrievably broken for 6 months.
However, all issues regarding child custody, child support, spousal maintenance, and property distribution must be resolved prior to the divorce.
The Governor also signed separate bills affecting spousal maintenance and awards of legal fees in divorce actions.
I’m sure that this new legislation will cause tremendous upheaval and uncertainty in the practice and litigation of divorce and family law cases in New York for the next several years, as the Courts, attorneys, and the parties begin to understand, interpret, and work with the new laws. In fact, I’m going to spend the next few weeks reviewing the legislation and counseling my clients about how the new law affects them and their cases and case strategies. It will be an eye-opening experience for sure.
Like all major legal developments in the law, there will be winners and losers. While I do not claim to know who will ultimately benefit and who will suffer from the new law, I do know that Gov. Patterson did not repeal the law of unintended consequences and that most of what we think we know about how the law will work will be wrong in ways we cannot now imagine.