I cannot tell you how many times a client or potential client comes to my office and says they are entitled to more than half of all of the assets. Sometimes a client will tell me that they want to give their spouse nothing. I tell them……
It is a rare case where one spouse will recieve nothing out of the property acquired during the marriage in New York. There are a number of factors which govern how Judges should decide in New York about the division of marital property. The first question every Judge asks me is have the parties lived together for most of the marriage and are their any children. If you have lived with your spouse for most of your marriage and their has been some sort of economic partnership, generally Judges want to resolve the case by splitting the assets in half. Judge because you think your husband or wife is good for nothing, does not mean that a Judge will think the same way. If your husband or wife is truely worthless, i.e. he abuses your, uses drugs, refuses to work, etc… Judges will generally give that person less than half.