No Fault Defender – A Defense Attorney's Perspective on New York No-Fault Law

Archive for July 4th, 2010

I was inspired by DG over at NFP to write something not no-fault related, per se. But then I realized people do not read this blog to find out my thoughts on politics and other societal issues.  At least I hope that is not the case.  Surprisingly, I do get many hits when I delve into issues that are only tangentially related to PIP issues, which is interesting.

But, since there has been a lot of talk about no-fault regulation and legislation, I thought I would mention the piece of no-fault legislation that passed.  That would be “no-fault” divorce.  A copy of the bill that passed both chambers and will be signed as a chapter law (A-9753A) – and it is a short one – is reproduced here:

1    Section  1.  Section  170  of the domestic relations law is amended by
     2  adding a new subdivision 7 to read as follows:
     3    (7) The relationship between husband and wife has  broken  down  irre-
     4  trievably  for  a period of at least six months, provided that one party
     5  has so stated under oath.  No judgment of divorce shall be granted under
     6  this subdivision unless and  until  the  economic  issues  of  equitable
     7  distribution  of  marital  property,  the  payment  or waiver of spousal
     8  support, the payment of  child  support,  the  payment  of  counsel  and
     9  experts'  fees  and  expenses as well as the custody and visitation with
    10  the infant children of the marriage have been resolved by  the  parties,
    11  or  determined  by  the  court  and  incorporated  into  the judgment of
    12  divorce.

Have a happy, healthy and safe independence day today.