§ 200 — Action for separation

New York § 200

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law DOM: Domestic Relations
• Art. 11: Action For Separation

Text

§ 200. Action for separation. An action may be maintained by a husband\nor wife against the other party to the marriage to procure a judgment\nseparating the parties from bed and board, forever, or for a limited\ntime, for any of the following causes:\n 1. The cruel and inhuman treatment of the plaintiff by the defendant\nsuch that the conduct of the defendant so endangers the physical or\nmental well being of the plaintiff as renders it unsafe or improper for\nthe plaintiff to cohabit with the defendant.\n 2. The abandonment of the plaintiff by the defendant.\n 3. The neglect or refusal of the defendant-spouse to provide for the\nsupport of the plaintiff-spouse where the defendant-spouse is chargeable\nwith such support under the provisions of section thirty-two of this\nchapter or of section four hundred twelve of the family court act.\n 4. The commission of an act of adultery by the defendant; except where\nsuch offense is committed by the procurement or with the connivance of\nthe plaintiff or where there is voluntary cohabitation of the parties\nwith the knowledge of the offense or where action was not commenced\nwithin five years after the discovery by the plaintiff of the offense\ncharged or where the plaintiff has also been guilty of adultery under\nsuch circumstances that the defendant would have been entitled, if\ninnocent, to a divorce, provided that adultery for the purposes of this\nsubdivision is hereby defined as the commission of an act of vaginal\nsexual contact, oral sexual contact or anal sexual contact, voluntarily\nperformed by the defendant, with a person other than the plaintiff after\nthe marriage of plaintiff and defendant. Oral sexual contact and anal\nsexual contact include, but are not limited to, sexual conduct as\ndefined in subdivision two of section 130.00 and subdivision four of\nsection 130.20 of the penal law.\n 5. The confinement of the defendant in prison for a period of three or\nmore consecutive years after the marriage of plaintiff and defendant.\n * 6. The relationship between the spouses has broken down\nirretrievably for a period of at least six months, provided that one\nparty has so stated under oath. No action for separation shall be\nmaintained under this subdivision unless and until the economic issues\nof the payment or waiver of spousal support, the payment of child\nsupport, the payment of counsel and experts' fees and expenses as well\nas the custody and visitation with the infant children of the marriage\nhave been resolved by the parties, or determined by the court and\nincorporated into the action.\n * NB Effective February 17, 2026\n