GROUNDS FOR SEPARATION - SUPREME COURT DIVORCE



An action for separation may be maintained by a husband or wife against the other party to the marriage to procure a judgment separating the parties from bed and board, forever, or for a limited time.

The following are the grounds allowable to obtain a Court separation, in New York State:

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 (DRL section 200 (1)).

2. The abandonment of the plaintiff by the defendant (DRL section 200 (2)).

3. The neglect or refusal of the defendant-spouse to provide for the support of the plaintiff-spouse where the defendant-spouse is chargeable with such support under the provisions of section thirty-two of this chapter or of section four hundred twelve of the family court act (DRL section 200 (3)).

4. The commission of an act of adultery by the defendant; except where such offense is committed by the procurement or with the connivance of the plaintiff or where there is voluntary cohabitation of the parties with the knowledge of the offense or where action was not commenced within five years after the discovery by the plaintiff of the offense charged or where the plaintiff has also been guilty of adultery under such circumstances that the defendant would have been entitled, if innocent, to a divorce, provided that adultery for the purposes of this subdivision 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 (DRL section 200 (4)).

5. The confinement of the defendant in prison for a period of three or more consecutive years after the marriage of plaintiff and defendant(DRL section 200 (5))..

A separation unlike a divorce does not allow either spouse to have sexual relations with someone other than his/her spouse and would be considered to be adultery, since the parties are still married, but judicially allowed to live separate and apart.

 This is not legal advice and should not be viewed as such.  No advice is given until there has been an actual consultation with the attorney.  The statements herein are not advice and no one should act according to such until they have obtained the oral advice of an attorney with regards to these and all legal matters.