Here's an excerpt from
www.divorcenet.com for New York:<p> <blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr> Abandonment for One or More Years <p>
Abandonment means that your spouse has intentionally failed to fulfill a basic marital obligation or has left you without your consent, of his or her own accord (that is, you did not force or lock your spouse out of the house) and without justification. You must also establish that your spouse had no good reason for leaving (such as your ill-treatment or your consent), that he/she left with the intention of never returning, and did not offer in good faith to return. Unjustified refusal by a spouse to have sexual relations or where one spouse locks the other out of the house without good reason are considered a "constructive" abandonment. The abandonment must exist for a continuous period of at least one year before the action is started. There is no statute of limitations on abandonment.
<hr></blockquote><p>So it sounds to me like you could go ahead and file right now without much trouble.<p>CYA:<p>But I'm no lawyer, and the above information was originally provided to
www.divorcenet.com by
Joel R. Brandes, a New York attorney. - but please visit the site yourself, and definitely talk to a lawyer rather than act on any of this info. Since I cited the original website & author, I don't think it's a problem that I copied it here.<p>[ January 16, 2002: Message edited by: stable guy ]</p>
