New York’s No Fault Divorce Law

The Financial Settlement Agreement

One of the reasons it took New York so long to pass a No Fault Divorce Law had to do with concerns that if one spouse was not first required to prove that the other spouse was guilty of marital misconduct (fault), that spouse could simply walk out on the marriage without providing a fair financial settlement to the other spouse.

To address this concern, the new No Fault Law requires the couple to develop a financial settlement agreement before a Judge will grant the divorce. This means that the couple must first agree to a division of all of their marital assets and liabilities, spousal and child support, a parenting plan for their children and how they will pay legal and expert fees before the divorce will be granted. The big difference with the new law is that if the couple is unable to do this on their own, one spouse no longer has to prove marital misconduct (fault) before the court can step in and decide these issues for them.

With this change, spouses can still hire separate attorneys to create the financial settlement, but that can often lead to an expensive legal battle that may create a lot of animosity between the couple as the attorneys argue with each other over their respective positions. This animosity can spill over and affect any children of the marriage, who can get caught in the middle of a legal battle between their parents. And, in the end, it is very likely that the agreement reached by the attorneys will not provide either spouse with those things that are most important to them.

Mediation provides an excellent alternative to the above scenario. Through mediation, a couple can control the outcome by creating their own financial settlement agreement using the services of a trained divorce mediator. The mediator can help them identify their underlying interests and develop an agreement that works for each person. And mediation is not only much less expensive; it is usually much quicker and more likely to allow a couple to reach a fair and satisfying agreement without an expensive and hurtful court battle.