ALBANY (AP) -- New Yorkers would be able to file unilaterally for no-fault divorce under a measure that received final legislative approval Thursday.
Under current law, New York judges can grant divorce only on grounds of cruelty, adultery, abandonment or getting sent to prison for at least three years. They also can grant a divorce one year after a couple file a separation agreement when both sides consent.
The new measure would require one spouse to swear under oath that the relationship has broken down irretrievably for at least six months. Property division, alimony, child custody and support would have to be resolved first.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose house passed it 113-19, says he believes Gov. David Paterson will sign it. Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook has said the governor will review the bill when it reaches his desk.
The Senate voted 32-29 two weeks ago to approve the change, which would take effect on signing.
"Without having to go through the process of determining which party's at fault, it will certainly reduce the cost of divorce to a number of people in the state," said Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, a Manhattan Democrat who sponsored the bill. For some it will likely be faster, he said.
This would make New York the 50th state to enact some version no-fault divorce, sponsors said.
Bing said experience in other states shows that change in the law reduces domestic violence and the suicide rate among women. Current New York law requires determining one spouse was a bad person, creates animosity, encourages perjury and makes it difficult for women in long-term marriages to get a divorce on grounds of cruelty, he said.
The New York Catholic Conference and the state chapter of the National Organization for Women opposed the measure. The conference said it made marriage disposable. NOW said it could make it easier for wealthy husbands who initiate divorce to hide assets and make it harder for abused women to get courts to recognize the abuse.
Advocates for abused women said it will make it easier for them to divorce men who don't want to let them go.
Both houses also passed bills authorizing judges to require the wealthier spouse pay the other's legal fees early in the process and to establish guidelines for setting temporary and post-divorce maintenance payments.
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