Motler v. Motler

OPINION OF THE COURT

Jasen, J.

On this appeal we are asked to decide whether it was error to grant defendant wife’s motion to discontinue a counterclaim interposed in an action for divorce after the effective date of part B of section 236 of the Domestic Relations Law, the “Equitable Distribution Law”, when plaintiff husband commenced the action prior to that date.

On July 17,1980, two days before the effective date (July 19, 1980) of the Equitable Distribution Law, plaintiff husband commenced an action for divorce. On August 7,1980, after the effective date of the new law, defendant answered…