Appeals Court Decides Complicated Case Involving Religious Invalidation of Marriage

In the case of T.I. v. R.I., the court was called upon to determine if the parties’ marriage was recognized in the State of New York even though the parties never obtained a civil marriage license. To make matters more complicated, a religious tribunal annulled the religious marriage at the request of the husband on the religious grounds of concealing her history of mental illness. The marriage was annulled by a rabbinical court on that basis.

This divorce case was the second divorce action between the parties who participated in a religious solemnization ceremony pursuant to DRL 12 (Domestic Relations Law on how a marriage is solemnized). The parties executed a ketubah (religious marriage contract under Jewish law) but never obtained a New York State civil marriage license pursuant to DRL 13.

The husband began the prior divorce action in 2015. It was an extremely contentious litigation that continued until late 2018 when the court issued an extensive written decision that resolved all custody and financial issues between the parties and directed that the judgment of divorce be submitted. After the trial decision was issued, the parties notified the court that they had reconciled.

In the second divorce action, the husband asked the court to dismiss the second action for divorce, filed by the wife, because, he contends, in November 2022, nearly a decade after the solemnization ceremony, he sought and obtained a religious invalidation of the parties’ religious marriage from a rabbinical court. Hence, there was no longer any marriage between the parties recognized by the State of New York, and thus, there could be no divorce action.

The husband contended that the rabbinical court invalidated the parties’ religious marriage based on two Jewish religious concepts: (1) “concealment” for failure to disclose her mental health history to the husband prior to the marriage ceremony and (2) because the individual who conducted the marriage ceremony was not (although unknown to both parties) authorized to do so by at least some portion of the religious community.

The decision 

The appeals court decided that the marriage was valid on the basis that there is no requirement under DRL 12 that the religious solemnized marriage continue for a certain amount of time before that marriage is recognized by the State of New York. Likewise, there is no requirement under DRL 12 that a religious solemnized marriage continue as a predicate for the State of New York to continue recognizing the underlying marriage, even if the marriage is annulled by a religious court. Further, neither of the parties in their pleadings during the initial divorce action stated that the marriage should be voided by the court or that the marriage was not valid at the time they commenced the divorce. For those reasons, the State of New York saw fit to recognize the marriage and the divorce action.

Talk to a Rockland County Divorce Lawyer Today 

The Law Office of Robert S. Sunshine represents the interests of New York couples who are pursuing a divorce. Call our Westchester County family lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin discussing key elements of your divorce like property distribution, alimony, child custody, and child support.

Source:

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