NY Dom Rel L § 170 (2021)
2021 New York Laws DOM - Domestic Relations Article 10 - Action for Divorce 170 - Action for Divorce.

§  170. Action for divorce. An action for divorce may be maintained by a husband or wife to  procure  a  judgment  divorcing  the  parties  and dissolving the marriage on any of the following grounds:  (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.  (2) The abandonment of the plaintiff by the defendant for a period  of one or more years.  (3)  The  confinement of the defendant in prison for a period of three or more consecutive years after the marriage of plaintiff and defendant.  (4) The commission of an act of adultery, provided that  adultery  for the  purposes  of articles ten, eleven, and eleven-A of this chapter, 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.  (5) The husband and wife have lived apart  pursuant  to  a  decree  or judgment  of  separation  for  a  period  of one or more years after the granting of such decree or judgment, and  satisfactory  proof  has  been submitted  by  the  plaintiff that he or she has substantially performed all the terms and conditions of such decree or judgment.  (6) The husband and wife have lived separate and apart pursuant  to  a written  agreement  of separation, subscribed by the parties thereto and acknowledged or proved in the form required to  entitle  a  deed  to  be recorded,  for a period of one or more years after the execution of such agreement and satisfactory proof has been  submitted  by  the  plaintiff that  he or she has substantially performed all the terms and conditions of such agreement. Such agreement shall be filed in the  office  of  the clerk of the county wherein either party resides. In lieu of filing such agreement,  either party to such agreement may file a memorandum of such agreement,  which  memorandum  shall   be   similarly   subscribed   and acknowledged  or  proved  as  was  the agreement of separation and shall contain the following information: (a) the names and addresses  of  each of the parties, (b) the date of marriage of the parties, (c) the date of the  agreement  of  separation and (d) the date of this subscription and acknowledgment or proof of such agreement of separation.  (7)  The  relationship  between  husband  and  wife  has  broken  down irretrievably  for  a  period  of at least six months, provided that one party has so stated under oath. No judgment of divorce shall be  granted under this subdivision unless and until the economic issues of equitable distribution  of  marital  property,  the  payment  or waiver of spousal support, the payment of  child  support,  the  payment  of  counsel  and experts'  fees  and  expenses as well as the custody and visitation with the infant children of the marriage have been resolved by  the  parties, or  determined  by  the  court  and  incorporated  into  the judgment of divorce.