Family law, handled with care.

Under New York's no-fault ground, either spouse can ask the court to end the marriage by stating, under oath, that the relationship has broken down irretrievably for at least six months. The other spouse cannot block the divorce itself by refusing to agree.

A no-fault divorce isn't final, though, until the related issues are resolved too — equitable distribution of property, spousal maintenance, and, where there are children, custody and child support — either by agreement or by the court.

New York also keeps its older, fault-based grounds — cruel and inhuman treatment, abandonment, imprisonment, or adultery — in the law, for the rare case where a client prefers to rely on one of them.

New York is an equitable-distribution state. Marital property — generally anything either spouse acquired during the marriage, regardless of whose name is on it — is divided in a way the court finds fair given the circumstances, which is not always a 50/50 split.

Property owned before the marriage, along with inheritances, personal-injury awards, and gifts from someone other than a spouse, is usually "separate property" that stays with the spouse who owns it, unless it was mixed with marital funds.

The court weighs factors the law sets out, including the length of the marriage, each spouse's age, health and income, and whether a spouse gave up a career or career opportunities for the family.

New York calculates guideline spousal maintenance — support paid to the lower-earning spouse, during the case and sometimes after it — using formulas in the Domestic Relations Law that compare each spouse's income, up to a statutory cap adjusted every two years.

The formula differs depending on whether the higher earner is also paying child support, and the law offers advisory guidance, not a fixed rule, on how long maintenance should last, based mainly on the length of the marriage.

A court can move away from the guideline amount where it would be unjust or inappropriate, after weighing factors such as each spouse's age, health, and ability to become self-supporting.

New York courts decide legal custody (who makes decisions about a child's education, health care and religion) and physical custody, or parenting time (where the child lives day to day), based on the child's best interests, with the child's health and safety as the paramount concern.

The law does not favor one parent over the other because of gender, and custody can be sole or joint, for legal custody, physical custody, or both, in whatever combination fits the family.

Either parent — and in some situations a grandparent or another person with a real connection to the child — can ask Family Court to decide, or later change, a custody or parenting-time order if circumstances change.

In New York, both parents have a duty to financially support their child until age 21, unless the child marries, joins the military, or is otherwise legally self-supporting sooner.

The Child Support Standards Act sets the basic support obligation as a percentage of the parents' combined income — 17% for one child, rising with each additional child — up to an income threshold adjusted periodically.

Each parent generally pays their share of that obligation based on their share of the combined income, plus a share of add-ons such as child-care costs needed for work, health insurance, and unreimbursed medical expenses.

New York enforces prenuptial and postnuptial agreements that are in writing, signed by both spouses, and acknowledged the same way a deed is — generally in front of a notary.

Full, honest disclosure of both spouses' income, assets and debts before signing helps an agreement hold up later; courts look closely at agreements signed under time pressure, such as days before a wedding.

These agreements can set out how property and spousal maintenance will be handled, but by law they cannot decide child custody or child support in advance — those stay with the court, decided in the child's best interests when the time comes. A spouse also cannot be left with no means of self-support.