The term "irretrievable breakdown" isn't defined in the New York Domestic Relations law, but under the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, it was defined as "no reasonable prospect of reconciliation."
No judgment of divorce will be granted, though, until custody, visitation, property distribution, child and spousal support (if any), fees and expenses have been decided by the court.
The traditional fault-based grounds for divorce are now regarded as obsolete. Divorce cases are more about money, property and children than who broke the marriage. It is very rare now for one spouse to try to hold the other in a failed marriage.
Under New York's old divorce law, the evidence of fault was often perjured, with the parties' consent. One party or the other would testify that the other refused to have "marital relations," abandoned the marital home, or acted cruelly. The defendant who wanted a divorce didn't contest the evidence, but once in a while a defendant won, and the marriage continued.
Until the 1970s in New York, adultery was the only basis for divorce. One spouse might relocate to Nevada for six weeks to establish residence and get a divorce there. Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic were also popular divorce destinations. These were the days of private investigators storming hotel rooms to photograph unfaithful spouses in flagrante delicto.
Then fault grounds were added: cruelty, abandonment, imprisonment for three years or more.
With the dawning of no fault, it will be easier to get divorced, but it will probably cost just as much.
The article from Gotham Gazette.
