N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 170

DRL § 170: the seven grounds for divorce in New York

Domestic Relations Law § 170 lists the grounds for divorce in New York, including irretrievable breakdown for at least six months stated under oath by one party.

Official text N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 170 — New York

§ 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 vaginal sexual contact, oral sexual contact or anal sexual contact, voluntarily performed by the defendant, with a person other than the plaintiff after the marriage of plaintiff and defendant. Oral sexual contact and anal sexual contact include, but are not limited to, sexual conduct as defined in subdivision two of section 130.00 and subdivision four of section 130.20 of the penal law.
  • (5) The spouses have lived apart pursuant to a decree or judgment of separation for a period of six months or more after the granting of such decree or judgment, and satisfactory proof has been submitted by the plaintiff that such plaintiff has substantially performed all the terms and conditions of such decree or judgment.
  • (6) The spouses 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 six months or more after the execution of such agreement and satisfactory proof has been submitted by the plaintiff that such plaintiff 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.

Text as published in the 2026 snapshot of the code.

Source: Vaquill Open US Law, compiled from official state publishers (huggingface.co), reproduced under license CC BY 4.0.

Read this provision at the official source →

What it actually says

Seven grounds, and the seventh has largely displaced the rest. Ground (7) is irretrievable breakdown: 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. One party's sworn statement is enough - the other spouse's agreement is not required and their denial is not an answer.

But ground (7) carries a condition the others do not. No judgment of divorce may be granted under it until the economic issues - equitable distribution of marital property, payment or waiver of spousal support, child support, counsel and experts' fees and expenses - and custody and visitation with the children of the marriage have been resolved by the parties or determined by the court and incorporated into the judgment. So the ground itself is easy and the judgment still waits on everything else.

The other six remain available. (1) Cruel and inhuman treatment such that the defendant's conduct so endangers the plaintiff's physical or mental well-being as to render it unsafe or improper to cohabit. (2) Abandonment for a period of one or more years. (3) Confinement of the defendant in prison for three or more consecutive years after the marriage. (4) Adultery, which the section defines in detail. (5) Living apart for six months or more under a decree or judgment of separation, with proof of substantial performance of its terms. (6) Living separate and apart for six months or more under a written, acknowledged separation agreement, with the same proof of substantial performance - and that agreement, or a memorandum of it containing the names and addresses of the parties, the date of marriage, the date of the agreement and the date of acknowledgment, must be filed with the county clerk where either party resides.

When it applies

  • One spouse wants a divorce and the other refuses to agree to it.
  • A couple has lived apart for years under a signed separation agreement.
  • The parties want to know whether fault has to be alleged at all.
  • A spouse asks why the divorce cannot be finalized even though the ground is established.
  • Parties consider whether to proceed on separation or on irretrievable breakdown.

What this section does not say

  • It does not divide anything or decide about the children. Those are §§ 236 and 240, and under ground (7) the judgment waits for them.
  • It does not say where the case may be brought. Residence requirements are § 230.
  • It does not make a divorce quick. Ground (7) requires the breakdown to have lasted at least six months and the economic and custody issues to be resolved first.
  • It does not require the other spouse's consent under ground (7) - one party's sworn statement is what the text requires.
  • It does not determine whether conduct amounts to cruel and inhuman treatment or abandonment; the standards are applied case by case.

Worked examples

Invented situations, written to show how the wording bites. They are not real cases, not judgments and not precedent, and nothing here predicts what would happen in yours.

Illustrative example

A couple in their forties have slept in separate rooms for over a year and neither pretends the marriage is working. One of them wants it ended; the other says they will never sign anything, and that without a signature there can be no divorce.

How the wording applies

Ground (7) asks for one party's sworn statement that the relationship has broken down irretrievably for at least six months. The other spouse's agreement is not an element of it and their refusal is not an answer. What actually decides how long this takes is the condition attached to ground (7): no judgment may be granted under it until property, support, fees and the arrangements for the children are resolved or determined.

How the parties settled it

They stop arguing about whether there will be a divorce and spend their sessions on the two things that genuinely hold it up: a week-by-week schedule for the children and a split of the savings and the car.

Illustrative example

Two people signed a separation document three years ago, filed nothing with anyone, and have lived in different apartments since. One of them now wants to remarry and has assumed the years apart already ended the marriage.

How the wording applies

Living apart under a written separation agreement is ground (6), but the section attaches conditions: the agreement must be acknowledged, it or a memorandum of it carrying the names and addresses, the date of marriage, the date of the agreement and the date of acknowledgment must be filed with the county clerk, and there must be proof of substantial performance of its terms. The point it turns on is that elapsed time dissolves nothing on its own.

How the parties settled it

They accept between them that they are still married until a judgment says otherwise, agree who chases the paperwork and by when, and split the cost of doing it rather than each blaming the other for three lost years.

Illustrative example

One spouse wants the papers to set out years of the other's behaviour in detail. The other says that putting it all on the record will make co-parenting impossible for the next decade.

How the wording applies

The seven grounds include cruel and inhuman treatment and abandonment, but ground (7) requires no allegation of fault at all, only the sworn statement of irretrievable breakdown. The choice turns on what each of them wants the ground to achieve, because the section itself attaches no financial or custodial consequence to proceeding on fault rather than on breakdown.

How the parties settled it

They agree to proceed on irretrievable breakdown and to keep the account of the marriage out of the papers, on the understanding that neither will later give the children a version of who was to blame.

How courts have read it

Decisions construing this provision. The question and the summary are ours; the quoted sentence is the court's own words, taken from the published opinion. These are the decisions in our corpus, not every decision there is, and nothing here predicts any other case. Reported 2003 to 2017.

Johnston v. Johnston, 156 A.D.3d 1181 (2017)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

Was the husband's sworn testimony that the marriage had irretrievably broken down for at least six months sufficient to establish his cause of action for divorce under Domestic Relations Law § 170 (7)?

What it held

The husband's sworn testimony that the marriage had irretrievably broken down for at least six months was sufficient as a matter of law to establish his cause of action for divorce under Domestic Relations Law § 170 (7), and once that ground was established the court was not required to consider the wife's alternate grounds for divorce.

In the court's words
With respect to the grounds for divorce, the husband’s sworn testimony that his marriage to the wife had irretrievably broken down for a period of at least six months was sufficient to establish, as a matter of law, his cause of action for divorce pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 170 (7) (see Matter of Motta v Motta, 145 AD3d 560, 561 [2016]; Gonzalez v Garcia, 134 AD3d 989, 990 [2015]; Hoffer-Adou v Adou, 121 AD3d 618, 619 [2014]).

Ambrose v. Ambrose, 150 A.D.3d 1060 (2017)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

Whether the complaint stated a cause of action for divorce under Domestic Relations Law § 170 (7).

What it held

The complaint sufficiently alleged that the marital relationship had broken down irretrievably for at least six months, thus stating a cause of action for no-fault divorce under § 170 (7).

In the court's words
the complaint states a cause of action for a divorce pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 170 (7).

Masri v. Masri, 55 Misc. 3d 487 (2017)

trial courts

What the court had to decide

Did the plaintiff prove a cause of action for divorce under Domestic Relations Law § 170(7)?

What it held

The court held that the plaintiff pleaded and proved a cause of action for divorce pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 170(7).

In the court's words
Plaintiff has pleaded and proved a cause of action for divorce pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 170 (7).

Motta v. Motta, 145 A.D.3d 560 (2016)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

Whether the plaintiff's statement under oath that the marriage was irretrievably broken for six months was sufficient to establish a cause of action for divorce under Domestic Relations Law § 170(7).

What it held

The plaintiff's statement under oath that the marriage was irretrievably broken for a period of six months was sufficient to establish his cause of action for divorce under § 170(7) as a matter of law.

In the court's words
since his statement under oath that the marriage was irretrievably broken for a period of six months was sufficient to establish his cause of action as a matter of law

Lyons v. Lyons, 50 Misc. 3d 876 (2015)

trial courts

What the court had to decide

Does the no-fault divorce provision under § 170(7) affect the relevance of confidential information about the marriage in a disqualification motion?

What it held

The court held that under § 170(7), because there is no trial on fault, intimate details of the marriage are not relevant, thus supporting the argument that the husband's confidential information is not needed.

In the court's words
the current no-fault divorce statute, which both parties allege as the basis for this divorce, makes such intimate details unnecessary as there will be no trial on any issues related to fault.

Trbovich v. Trbovich, 122 A.D.3d 1381 (2014)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

Whether the opposing spouse in a no-fault divorce action under Domestic Relations Law § 170(7) is entitled to litigate the other spouse's sworn statement that the relationship has broken down irretrievably for at least six months.

What it held

The court held that the opposing spouse is not entitled to litigate the sworn statement of irretrievable breakdown, but summary judgment for divorce under § 170(7) was properly denied because the ancillary economic and custodial issues had not yet been resolved.

In the court's words
We agree with plaintiff that the opposing spouse in a no-fault divorce action pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 170 (7) is not entitled to litigate the other spouse’s sworn statement that the relationship has broken down irretrievably for a period of at least six months

Source: Caselaw Access Project, CC0 1.0 Universal (public domain dedication).

Related sections

N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 230 1-year residence required (with exceptions) - NY DRL § 230 N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 234 DRL § 234: who stays in the house while the divorce runs N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 200 DRL § 200: the grounds for a judgment of separation in New York N.Y. General Obligations Law § 5-311 Void Support Waivers: N.Y. General Obligations Law § 5-311 N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 248 Maintenance ends on remarriage – N.Y. DRL §248

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We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.

This page reproduces the text of N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 170 in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in New York.

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