Edward and Dorothy were
married for over twenty years and had four children together. However,
their relationship began to deteriorate.
Edward testified that
Dorothy threw vases and lamps at him and would not engage in sexual
relations.
Edward moved out, and
eventually filed for divorce. He also wanted the house sold and the
profits split.
Edward claimed constructive
abandonment and cruel and inhuman treatment.
Dorothy countered that she
didn't abandon Williams or throw things at him. She requested maintenance
and child support, but not a divorce.
The Trial Court granted the
divorce, but gave the house and custody of the kids to Dorothy.
The Trial Court found that
the marriage was 'dead.'
The Appellate Court modified
the judgment and refused to grant the divorce.
The Appellate Court found
that Edward had not established constructive abandonment and cruel and
inhuman treatment.
The New York Supreme Court
affirmed.
The New York Supreme Court
found that under New York law, a person must establish a cause of action
for divorce. There were only six possible causes of action.
The marriage being 'dead'
is not a cause of action.
The Court found that in
order to establish cruel and inhuman treatment, there must be a showing
of serious misconduct, not just mere incompatibility.
The Court noted that the
longer the marriage lasted, the more serious the misconduct must be to
establish cause. For a long duration, the cruelty must go to "the
essence of the marriage."
That's known as the duration
of the marriage rule.
The reason for this rule
is that a divorce after a long duration marriage is likely to have more
economic consequences than a short duration marriage. Since there is a
disparity in division of marital property in a fault divorce, the fault needs to be greater in
order to justify that disparity.
This rule only applies in
the context of cruelty. For adultery or desertion grounds, the length of the marriage is not a
factor.
In the past, divorce was only
granted when there was fault.
Cases like this one show that people trying to get a divorce often
attempted to manipulate the system by alleging cruelty or some other
grounds. Eventually, every State established a no-fault divorce, so people weren't tempted to
manipulate the system.
