Last week, Rapaport Law Firm obtained the first Appellate Division, First Department decision recognizing that the only prerequisite for obtaining a judgment of divorce under D.R.L. §170(7) (irretrievable breakdown) is a statement by the plaintiff that the parties’ marital relationship is irretrievably broken. The First Department upheld the decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Kaplan, in which Judge Kaplan dismissed the defendant-husband’s attack against the parties’ marital separation agreement. Judge Kaplan – and now the Appellate Division – held that disputes arising after the signing of a marital separation agreement do not hinder a trial court from issuing a divorce judgment. Read more about Rapaport Law Firm’s ground-breaking victory at DivorceNY.com.