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Sex Versus Society

By Karen M. Platt

Late last year, the Appellate Division, Second Department, was confronted with the question of whether the judicially created concept of “constructive abandonment” could be expanded beyond its historic definition of sexual abandonment to include a persistent unrelenting pattern of social abandonment of a spouse. The court declined to expand the concept and held in Davis v. Davis, 2009 NY Slip Op 08579, 2009 WL 3873026, that social abandonment did not constitute a valid ground for divorce in New York.

The court based its determination on five factors, noting that any of them “supports the conclusion that 'social abandonment' is not a recognized ground for divorce” in New York. In the Davis decision, the court offered a very thorough and detailed review of the history of constructive abandonment, and anticipated many of the questions and concerns that the matrimonial bar would raise in response to its ruling; however, after a careful read of the decision, many questions remain as to why the concept of constructive abandonment should not be expanded at this time.

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