New York Divorce Law Blog : New York Divorce Lawyer & Attorney : Law Offices of David A. Gabay, PC : Serving New York City, Long Island, Suffolk County, Nassau County

A New York Supreme Court Justice has ruled that a lesbian couple married in Canada can be divorced in New York. A copy of the Court’s decision will be available on Friday. 

In Beth R. v. Donna M., Acting Supreme Court Justice Laura E. Drager held that the Canadian marriage of the couple was properly recognized under New York law. Therefore, they are entitled to be divorced in New York.

Justice Drager relied upon the case of Martinez v. Monroe, a Fourth Department case which recognized the validity of a Canadian marriage. Daniel Clements’ New York Divorce Report has a good post on the Martinez case.

The most interesting aspect to this case, in my opinion, is Beth R’s claim regarding the custody of Donna M’s two children. Apparently, Donna M. did not allow Beth R. to adopt the children, although Donna did name Beth as the guardian for the children in her will. Also, the couple jointly raised the children financially and emotionally.

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A New York judge recently ruled that using MySpace to contact a person covered by a Family Court order of protection is a violation of the order. In People v. Fernino, Judge Matthew A. Sclarrino, Jr., of the Richmond Criminal Court denied a defense motion to dismiss an accusatory instrument, finding that:

In this case, the defendant used MySpace as a conduit for communication prohibited by the temporary order of protection issued  by the Family Court.

The interesting aspect of the decision is that the Court noted that the contact was by means of a ‘friend request’ which the defendant sent to the victim.   The Court observed that even though the victim had the option to refuse the ‘friend request’ and not have any contact with the defendant , the mere fact that the request was sent at all constitutes a violation of the ‘no contact’ provisions of the order of protection. Unfortunately, the Court’s opinion did not reveal whether the victim accepted or rejected the ‘friend request.’

This decision is yet another example of the way in which family law practice is being affected and shaped by the internet.

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A recent article in Newsday contained some interesting information regarding marriage and divorce on Long Island. The piece notes that:

1.    In 2005, there were 7,104 divorces recorded in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and 15,444 marriage licenses issued.

2.    Between 1997 and 2005, the number of marriage licenses fell from 22, 113 to 15,444.

3.    Between 1997 and 2005, the divorce rate fell approximately 5 per cent.

4.    There are approximately 500,000.00 married couples on Long Island, according to 2006 US Census Bureau figures.

5.    Nationally, the median age for marriage is  27.5 years for men and 25.5 year for women, according to 2006 US Census Bureau data.

What can we learn from this information? I suppose we can take from these figures that couples are marrying less frequently and later in life, and that there are fewer divorces as a percentage of marriages. Whether these trends are related to each other is a subject for another day.

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