June 18, 1989
'No Fault' Divorce Is Considered By New York State Lawmakers
By ELIZABETH KOLBERT, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
LEAD: New Yorkers for the first time would be able to get ''no fault'' divorces under a measure being considered by the Legislature.

New Yorkers for the first time would be able to get ''no fault'' divorces under a measure being considered by the Legislature.

The measure would allow a husband or wife to obtain a divorce even if the spouse did not agree to it.

Under current law, one spouse can divorce the other against his or her will only by proving some fault, like adultery or abandonment. Under the measure under consideration, ''irreconcilable differences'' would be sufficient grounds for divorce if the couple had lived apart for at least a year and a half.

The measure would not affect couples who enter into a separation agreement before filing for divorce. Couples with such agreements are virtually guaranteed divorces if they live up to the terms of the agreements for at least a year. Approved by the Senate

''No fault'' divorces are already available in 38 states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, research by the Assembly Judiciary Committee shows.

The divorce measure has been approved by the Republican-led State Senate. But because of heavy lobbying against the measure by women's groups, its future in the Democratic-led Assembly is uncertain.

Opponents argue that in many marriages where the husband controls most of the assets, the wife's ability to refuse him a divorce is her only weapon in the fight over the division of property.

''It's often the only thing a woman has going into a divorce,'' said Marilyn Fitterman, president of the New York State chapter of the National Organization for Women, which opposes the measure. 'Horrible, Terrible Things'

Supporters of the measure argue that there are enough protections built into the bill to insure that women get fair treatment in a divorce, and they say that requiring a spouse to prove fault often has unhappy consequences.

''You come up with the most horrible, terrible things you can about the other person,'' said Norman S. Heller, a member of the matrimonial law committee of the City Bar Assocation in New York, which favors the bill.

It is often husbands, Mr. Heller added, who refuse to grant a divorce in an effort to wrest economic concessions from their wives. ''I've seen instances in which the husband puts up obstacles to a divorce to avoid having to divide property,'' he said.

The Assembly sponsor of the measure, G. Oliver Koppell, a Bronx Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he was not sure whether he would press for passage of the bill by the end of the session, expected early next month. But he said he hoped to convince opponents that taken together with other bills the Legislature is expected to approve this session, including new child-support guidelines, the divorce measure was not damaging to women.

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