Kaplan v. Kaplan

The question we are called upon to determine is whether subdivision (2) of section 170 of the Domestic Relations Law, which became effective on September 1, 1967, is retroactive so as to permit a plaintiff to maintain an action *248for absolute divorce based on abandonment of the plaintiff by the defendant for a period of more than two years prior to the commencement of the action but less than two years from September 1, 1967, the effective date of the statute.

The action was commenced by the service of a summons on January 27, 1968. In the second cause of action alleged in the complaint the…