| Pursuant to New York's Domestic Relations Law | | | | treatment. |
| (DRL) § 170(2), abandonment constitutes one of | | | | DRL § 170(2) does not set forth any minimum |
| the legal grounds pursuant to which a New York | | | | duration of the abandonment for it to support a |
| resident request a judgment of separation from his | | | | judgment of legal separation. In contrast, DRL § |
| or her spouse. New York courts have consistently | | | | 170(2), which sets forth abandonment as a ground |
| held that for an act of abandonment to constitute | | | | for divorce in New York, explicitly requires that the |
| sufficient grounds for a judgment of separation under | | | | alleged abandonment last for a continuous period of |
| New York law, the defendant-spouse's departure | | | | at least one year. Notwithstanding DRL § 170(2)'s |
| must have been: (a) voluntary; (b) unjustified; and (c) | | | | lack of any minimum time period, the fact is that |
| permanent. | | | | New York courts do consider the length of the |
| A complaint for separation based on abandonment | | | | abandonment as one of the principal factors in |
| must allege that it was the Defendant who departed | | | | determining whether or not the defendant's alleged |
| from the marital residence. Plaintiffs who allege in | | | | conduct has been sufficiently unjustifiable so as to |
| their separation complaints that they (rather than | | | | warrant a judgment of separation. If nothing else, the |
| their spouses) left the marital residence will not | | | | duration of the defendant-spouse's absence is |
| succeed in obtaining separation judgments based on | | | | relevant to whether or not his or her actions were |
| abandonment. They may wish to consider filing a | | | | wrongful and were intended to be permanent. |
| separation complaint based on one of the alternative | | | | Accordingly, a New York separation complaint the |
| statutory grounds for separation, such as cruel | | | | precise duration of the abandonment. |