New York Law Journal, January 22, 2026 —
This author has written before, and will write again, that domestic violence takes many forms that go beyond the proverbial black eye.
Infidelity and sexually transmitted infections (“STI”) are two topics that are not foreign to the annals of marital discord. These topics confront divorce lawyers on a recurring basis. How these issues can interact with the Equitable Distribution Law is addressed in the recent decision of Justice Edmund M. Dane in N.S. v. T.S., 2025 NY Slip Op 51897(U) (Sup. Ct., Nassau Cty.).
Justice Dane’s decision in N.S. holds that the transmission of an STI by one spouse to another spouse constitutes a form of domestic violence.
In N.S., the parties were married in 2019, and have one child together, also born in 2019. The husband is currently serving a term of incarceration at Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, New York.
There are many facets of the N.S. case, however this article will focus exclusively on the issue of the husband’s transmission of an STI to the wife, and how that can impact equitable distribution.