DRL § 171

When divorce denied, although adultery proved · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 171. When divorce denied, although adultery proved. In either of the following cases, the plaintiff is not entitled to a divorce, although the adultery is established:

1. Where the offense was committed by the procurement or with the connivance of the plaintiff.

2. Where the offense charged has been forgiven by the plaintiff. The forgiveness may be proven, either affirmatively, or by the voluntary cohabitation of the parties with the knowledge of the fact.

3. Where there has been no express forgiveness, and no voluntary cohabitation of the parties, but the action was not commenced within five years after the discovery by the plaintiff of the offense charged.

4. Where the plaintiff has also been guilty of adultery under such circumstances that the defendant would have been entitled, if innocent, to a divorce.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/DOM/171

In plain English

Even when adultery is proved, the plaintiff is not entitled to a divorce in any of these situations:

(1) The plaintiff procured or connived in the adultery. ★
(2) The plaintiff forgave the adultery, shown directly or by voluntarily living together while knowing about it.
(3) Without express forgiveness or voluntary cohabitation, the plaintiff did not start the action within 5 years after discovering the adultery. ★
(4) The plaintiff also committed adultery in circumstances that would have entitled an innocent defendant to a divorce.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Court Clerk in Plain English; Volume 6 — The Court Clerk: Uniform Rules and Everything Else; Volume 4 — Your Career: Family & Related Law in Plain English.