Legal Question in Family Law in New York
My spouse has sued me under the grounds of Constructive Abandonment and Cruel and Inhuman Treatment. I am willing to agree to the Constructive Abandonment but not the Cruel and Inhuman Treatment in my Verified Answer. From what I have read on divorce in New York it seems to me that only one ground is needed for a divorce, and I'd rather not go through a painful "grounds" hearing over the Cruel and Inhuman Treatment portion if it is not necessary and just skip to the Equitable Distribution portion of the trial when we come to it (there are no children of the marriage and the only Ancillary Relief my spouse is seeking is Equitable Distribution).
My question is: If I agree to one of the grounds but not the other do we still need to have a "grounds" hearing or is the agreement on the one ground sufficient to skip a painful hearing on the disagreeable Cruel and Inhuman Treatment? Is the granting of the divorce automatic if the Defendant agrees to one of the grounds?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Unless your spouse is looking for something beyond just a divorce, agreement as to constructive abandonment should be sufficient to resolve the issue of grounds without a trial. Usually this resolution would be formalized at the preliminary conference.
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