Latest / BSPE Legal Marketing Podcast / What Are New York's Divorce Residency Requirements? - Richard Roman Shum

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What Are New York's Divorce Residency Requirements? - Richard Roman Shum · BSPE Legal Marketing Podcast

• 0:00
  What Are New York's Divorce Residency Requirements?
• 0:02
  If you are considering filing for divorce in New York, the first legal hurdle you must clear is proving that you or your spouse actually qualifies to file here under state law.
• 0:11
  New York's Domestic Relations Law Section 230 establishes five distinct residency pathways, and satisfying any single one of them is enough to give a New York court authority over your divorce.
• 0:22
  Three of those pathways require one continuous year of New York residency paired with a specific connection, such as being married in the state, having lived here together as spouses, or the grounds for divorce arising within New York.
• 0:34
  A fourth pathway requires no fixed waiting period at all, applying when both spouses are New York residents at the time the divorce action begins and the cause of action arose in the state.
• 0:44
  The fifth pathway is a two-year option that asks only for continuous residency, with no requirement that you were married here, lived here together, or that the breakdown of the marriage happened in New York.
• 0:55
  This two-year path often applies to people who moved to New York after a separation that occurred elsewhere, lived continuously in the city for two years, and now need a legal basis to file.
• 1:05
  Proving continuous residency is not simply a matter of keeping a mailing address in New York, because courts require an actual dwelling place with a degree of permanence, as established in Unanue v. Unanue.
• 1:16
  Objective documents carry the most weight with judges, including a New York lease or deed, a state-issued driver's license, resident income tax returns, voter registration records, and utility bills showing uninterrupted service at your address.
• 1:30
  In a contested case, a spouse attempting to litigate in another state may challenge the residency allegation directly, making a well-documented paper trail the deciding factor in keeping your case in New York.
• 1:41
  Short trips, vacations, and work travel generally do not interrupt your qualifying residency period, but relocating your household to another state and returning later will restart the clock entirely.
• 1:51
  The experienced divorce lawyer and matrimonial attorney Richard Roman Shum has spent years helping clients across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island evaluate which residency pathway applies to their specific circumstances before a summons is ever served.
• 2:06
  Contact the Law Office of Richard Roman Shum, Esq, located at 20 Clinton St FRNT, New York, NY 10002, United States, by calling 646, 259, 3416 to schedule a consultation and confirm whether you are ready to file for divorce in New York.