Some lawyers welcome New York's new no-fault divorce law

In recent weeks, New Hyde Park attorney Joseph Trotti said he told many clients to wait until Tuesday to file for divorce.

That's because Tuesday marked the first day of New York's no-fault divorce laws, replacing old legislation that required many couples to prove abuse or abandonment by their former significant other in court.

"The new law basically allows you to get divorced" without having to testify in court about allegations of infidelity or domestic violence, Trotti said in an interview. "All you have to say is, 'I want to get divorced, and the marriage is irretrievably broken.' "

After decades of working in the only state without no-fault divorce, attorneys interviewed Tuesday welcomed the change. Veteran matrimonial attorney Bruce Miller of Hauppauge said the old law "made us look ridiculous."

Critics of the old law said having to prove fault resulted in bitter and protracted divorce proceedings as spouses battled in court over whether their marriages should be dissolved.

Still, there was no apparent surge in new divorce filings Tuesday, attorneys said, and the long-term effects of the new law are unclear.

In fact, some attorneys said they had counseled clients to file before the new law kicked in.

James Joseph, a Garden City matrimonial lawyer, said some elements of the new law - such as how much financial support one spouse provides to the other while the divorce is pending - are less favorable now to some of his clients.

The new law benefits people who were forced to go to court because their spouses had refused to consent to a divorce, said Manhattan attorney Allan Mantel, past president of the New York chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. The "overwhelming majority" of divorce cases were settled out of court, even under the old law, he said.

The old rules led to fraudulent claims of abuse and marital neglect, because it was the only way to obtain a divorce, Miller said. Those who could afford to do so often avoided New York's onerous rules by obtaining legal residences in states that had no-fault divorce, he said.

But he added that some aspects of the new law are vague and likely will be subject to appeals. "There will have to be clarification of what the law means," Miller said.