Sarah Stark
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- New York
Hi
I kicked my abusive husband of 2 years out on July 20th 2022. I filed a legal separation on July 25th 2022 to try and qualify for assistance (I did not due to his expensive car being in my name. I racked up a lot of debt throughout the relationship as well so I had to file for bankruptcy in November. I just got my discharge a little over a week ago). We have no shared assets or children (although I have a preteen son from a previous marriage). His car was surrendered to the bank.
Because of his abusive nature, I've blocked all contact and he's only able to speak to me through a 3rd party. But every few months he's tried to bully me through this 3rd party to speed up the process and "file already."
I've explained that with the legal separation in place, we need to wait a year before we could use it as grounds for divorce. He's accused me of being dishonest about this. The whole thing is odd given the fact that I was the one to initiate the separation and say I wanted a divorce in the first place, but this behavior is typical for him. He now says he's moving out of state in 3 months and wants "the divorce done by then."
My question is—can I file now under different grounds just to get him off my back and finally close that chapter of my life? I was hoping to use the uncontested NY divorce program because we have no shared assets or children. He's not a nice or trustworthy guy but I don't think he'll contest it since he signed the separation agreement (which won't differ much as far as the terms go).
If I can't file now, how will his moving affect the process?
Thank you in advance.
I kicked my abusive husband of 2 years out on July 20th 2022. I filed a legal separation on July 25th 2022 to try and qualify for assistance (I did not due to his expensive car being in my name. I racked up a lot of debt throughout the relationship as well so I had to file for bankruptcy in November. I just got my discharge a little over a week ago). We have no shared assets or children (although I have a preteen son from a previous marriage). His car was surrendered to the bank.
Because of his abusive nature, I've blocked all contact and he's only able to speak to me through a 3rd party. But every few months he's tried to bully me through this 3rd party to speed up the process and "file already."
I've explained that with the legal separation in place, we need to wait a year before we could use it as grounds for divorce. He's accused me of being dishonest about this. The whole thing is odd given the fact that I was the one to initiate the separation and say I wanted a divorce in the first place, but this behavior is typical for him. He now says he's moving out of state in 3 months and wants "the divorce done by then."
My question is—can I file now under different grounds just to get him off my back and finally close that chapter of my life? I was hoping to use the uncontested NY divorce program because we have no shared assets or children. He's not a nice or trustworthy guy but I don't think he'll contest it since he signed the separation agreement (which won't differ much as far as the terms go).
If I can't file now, how will his moving affect the process?
Thank you in advance.
