By Dale Riedel, Esq. · Admitted in New York, Bar No. 5837539
Answer
New York allows no-fault divorce under Domestic Relations Law §170(7). One spouse states under oath that the marriage has been irretrievably broken for at least six months. No proof of wrongdoing is required, and the other spouse cannot block the divorce by disagreeing.
What changed in 2010
Until 2010, New York was the last state in the country that required someone to prove a reason for a divorce — cruelty, abandonment, adultery, imprisonment — or to live apart under a formal separation agreement for a year.
That produced a great deal of manufactured allegation. Couples who had simply stopped working had to assemble a case against each other. DRL §170(7) ended it.
What the six months actually means
The breakdown must have lasted at least six months before the statement is made.
You do not have to have lived apart. The statute speaks to the state of the relationship, not to separate addresses. Many couples remain under one roof for financial reasons while a divorce proceeds, and that does not affect the ground.
Your spouse cannot stop it
This is the part that reassures people most.
The ground is established by one spouse’s sworn statement. It is not defeated by the other spouse saying the marriage is fine, refusing to participate, or asking for more time.
What a spouse can contest is everything else — property, maintenance, custody, support. And that is where the misunderstanding starts.
Why your no-fault divorce is taking so long
Because a no-fault divorce cannot be finalized until all the economic issues and any custody and child support issues are resolved — by agreement or by the court.
This is the single most common source of confusion. People hear that New York has no-fault divorce, assume that means a quick one, and discover months later that the ground was never the obstacle.
No-fault makes the marriage easy to end. It does nothing to resolve what is attached to it.
So the real question in almost every New York divorce is not the grounds. It is whether you can reach agreement on property, maintenance and custody — which determines whether you have an uncontested or a contested case.
Are the old fault grounds still available?
Yes. DRL §170 still contains them, along with two grounds based on living apart for six months after a separation judgment or a written separation agreement (the period was cut from a year by a 2025 amendment). They are occasionally still used. In the overwhelming majority of cases there is no reason to, because no-fault reaches the same result without the proof burden — and proving fault does not generally improve your financial position.
The short version
One sworn statement, six months of breakdown, no proof required, and your spouse cannot block it. Then everything else still has to be decided.
Read more: No-Fault Divorce · Uncontested Divorce · Divorce