Justice Matthew Cooper, sitting in Supreme Court, New York County, granted an application in the matter of Castaneda v. Castaneda, for a change in venue in a divorce proceeding from Manhattan to Suffolk County. The wife in this case brought an application claiming that the venueing of the case in Manhattan was improper. She resided in Suffolk County. Her husband resided in Queens County.
Justice Cooper, in his decision, wrote “that it appears to become an accepted practice for ‘so called divorce mills’ to file divorce actions in New York County even when neither of the spouses actually live in the county.” He presumed that they took this action because New York County processed divorces faster than other counties.
Wife In Suffolk County And Husband In Queens County
Justice Cooper in his decision stated that since the wife lived in Suffolk County and the husband lived in Queens County, New York County could not be the proper venue for the divorce proceeding. He granted the wife’s application to change venue. The Court stated the legislature should amend the New York Civil Practice Laws and Rules to require parties in divorce proceedings to file the proceedings in the county in which they reside in unless there were special circumstances shown. In the alternative, he suggested trial Judges be given the discretion on their own to transfer cases to the proper county the case should be heard in.
Divorce mills refer to attorneys that do high volume allegedly simple divorces often assuming the issues involving custody, child support, spousal maintenance and other significant issues have been resolved and therefore the parties just need a change in their status. This is not always the case. In many situations the alleged uncontested divorces often fall apart and contested litigation proceedings are necessary.
