New York Law Journal, December 12, 2024 —
When the legal historians write about the year 2024, one has to wonder what will be said. Only time will tell.
What we do know is that the dynamic between divorce litigants and matrimonial judges has been disrupted in ways that are cause for concern. More specifically, in 2024, we have seen various decisions of interest wherein divorce litigants flouted court orders with impunity.
With that in mind, we turn to the recent decision of Justice Edmund M. Dane in Y.R. v. A.O.R. 2024 NY Slip Op 51487(U) (Sup. Ct., Nassau County).
The Y.R. divorce saga involved a “tortured litigation history.” The parties married in 2000, had no unemancipated children, and an action for divorce was filed in 2011.
The parties’ June 2012 stipulation of settlement resolving the divorce action required the wife to either list and sell a residence in Great Neck, New York by March 1, 2017, or purchase the husband’s interest in the residence for $75,000. In short, she did neither.
The husband moved for a warrant of eviction, and the court granted the motion to the extent of setting a date certain by which the wife is to vacate the Great Neck residence, failing which a warrant of eviction “shall be issued” directing her removal by a sheriff.