ARTICLE 11: Action for Separation
(provided by Divorce Source, Inc.)
Published 6.5.98
New York Domestic Relations Law Contents
Section 200. Action for separation.
Section 202. Defense of justification.
Section 203. Judgment for separation revocable.
Sec. 200. Action for separation. An action may be maintained by a
husband or wife against the other party to the marriage to procure a
judgment separating the parties from bed and board, forever, or for a
limited time, for any of the following causes:
1. The cruel and inhuman treatment of the plaintiff by the defendant
such that the conduct of the defendant so endangers the physical or mental
well being of the plaintiff as renders it unsafe or improper for the
plaintiff to cohabit with the defendant.
Sec. 202. Defense of justification. The defendant in an
action for separation from bed and board may set up, in
justification, the misconduct of the plaintiff; and if that
defense is established to the satisfaction of the court, the
defendant is entitled to judgment.
2. The abandonment of the plaintiff by the defendant.
3. The neglect or refusal of the defendant-spouse to provide for the
support of the plaintiff-spouse where the defendant-spouse is chargeable
with such support under the provisions of section thirty-two of this
chapter or of section four hundred twelve of the family court act.
4. The commission of an act of adultery by the defendant; except where
such offense is committed by the procurement or with the connivance of the
plaintiff or where there is voluntary cohabitation of the parties with the
knowledge of the offense or where action was not commenced within five
years after the discovery by the plaintiff of the offense charged or where
the plaintiff has also been guilty of adultery under such circumstances
that the defendant would have been entitled, if innocent, to a divorce,
provided that adultery for the purposes of this subdivision is hereby
defined as the commission of an act of sexual or deviate sexual
intercourse, voluntarily performed by the defendant, with a person other
than the plaintiff after the marriage of plaintiff and defendant. Deviate
sexual intercourse includes, but not limited to, sexual conduct as defined
in subdivision two of Section 130.00 and subdivision three of Section
130.20 of the penal law.
5. The confinement of the defendant in prison for a period of three or
more consecutive years after the marriage of plaintiff and defendant.
Sec. 203. Judgment for separation revocable. Upon the joint
application of the parties, accompanied with satisfactory
evidence of their reconciliation, a judgment for a separation,
forever, or for a limited period, rendered as prescribed in this
article, may be revoked at any time by the court which rendered
it, subject to such regulations and restrictions as the court
thinks fit to impose.
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