An upstate judge has become the second to rule that a trial is required if a party disputes the factual underpinnings of a claim under the state’s new no-fault divorce law, a measure aimed in part at eliminating the need for lengthy and expensive legal proceedings in contested divorces.
Essex County Justice Robert J. Muller ruled on Feb. 1 that an “immediate trial” was required to resolve whether a 47-year marriage has “broken down irretrievably,” as is specified in the language of the no-fault statute, Domestic Relations Law §170(7), which took effect in October.
