New York's first contested no-fault divorce has been granted, under the no-fault divorce laws that took effect in late 2010. At that time, New York became the last of the 50 states to permit no-fault divorce.

The woman who filed the petition had been married to her husband for over 50 years. She claimed that their marriage was "irretrievably broken" in her divorce filing. But the husband argued that the couple should stay married, insisting that he had worked for everything they owned together as a couple and that he did not want to lose any of their mutual property due to divorce. He also argued that his wife was being urged to divorce by two of the couple's four children.

The wife's account of the last decade of their marriage painted a sad picture: they did not eat together or share a bedroom during the past five years, nor did they share any friendships. The wife also had health problems and she indicated that her husband never took her to medical appointments nor had he ever inquired about her health in over a decade. The husband was not involved with any of their children, either.

Ultimately, a Suffolk County judge awarded the wife a divorce under the no-fault divorce law.

Before the change to New York's divorce law, a husband or wife filing for divorce typically had to show that the other spouse was at "fault" for ruining the union on the grounds of infidelity, cruelty or absence from the marriage. When the other spouse did not want to divorce, it was sometimes difficult to show fault as required under New York's old divorce law.

Currently, the no-fault divorce law may allow a husband or wife who has been in a marriage for more than six months to file for divorce regardless of whether the other spouse was at "fault." According to legislators who championed the no-fault divorce law, it was designed to remove some of the acrimony from the divorce process by removing the requirement that one of the parties take the blame for a marital break-up.

Source: New York Post, "First no-fault divorce granted," Erin Calabrese, Jan. 26, 2012