Is Every Case 50/50?
Posted By Brian D. Perskin on May 6, 2008 10:07am PDT
In New York Divorce cases, Judges divide property subject to New York's equitable distribution law. In many cases Judges divide all property equally. If the marriage is a true economic partnership, generally everything will be divided equally. In the following case a successful
New York Divorce lawyer argued that one side was entitled to much less than half.
K. v. B., 13 A.D.3d 12, 784 N.Y.S.2d 76 (First Dept. 2004)(2004 WL 2525121)(2004 N.Y. Slip Op. 08003)(Nov 09, 2004):
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.
K., Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
B., Defendant-Appellant.
Nov. 9, 2004.
This appeal presents an unusual set of facts, whose most pertinent aspects are substantially set forth in the dissent. The parties' marriage was unconventional in certain ways, but that lack of convention does not, as the defendant-husband would have it, trump the settled equitable distribution principles which have evolved in New York since 1980. For that reason we most respectfully disagree with our dissenting colleague(s) and affirm the trial court.
CRUEL AND INHUMAN TREATMENT
Without citing any legal authority, the husband argues that the wife could not establish cruel and inhuman treatment as a ground for divorce since the parties did not cohabit, but rather maintained separate residences-the wife in Manhattan and the husband in Putnam County. However, in considering a cause of action for cruel and inhuman treatment, the fact-finder should focus primary attention on the nature of the interaction between a husband and wife, rather than on the type of living arrangement they have.
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