ALBANY — New York would join the other 49 states permitting no-fault divorce, making

it faster and less expensive for uncontested breakups, under legislation given final approval

Thursday night.

Perhaps more significant, the deal updates and makes more uniform the way in which

maintenance — or alimony — is awarded, ending a current system that some lawmakers

say forces some people to stay in abusive or empty relationships because of economic

conditions.

Besides the no-fault and alimony components, the three-part legislative package also calls

for the "monied" spouse in a couple with "greatly unequal financial resources" to pay lawyer

fees of the other spouse in a divorce proceeding — a move intended to level the legal

playing field between a divorcing husband and wife.

"Taken together as a package, and it's very important that they be enacted together, [the

legislation] will make a real difference in helping families in New York State," said

Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein, D-Brooklyn, chairwoman of the Assembly's Judiciary

Committee.

The measure was among dozens of bills getting final passage in the last 48 hours as the

Legislature ended — sort of — its regular 2010 session. The bills included new

rights for domestic workers, expanded crossbow hunting rights and use of shock incarceration

prison camps for more nonviolent offenders.

The Senate, at least, will return in the coming weeks to take up final passage of the state

budget, and other unresolved issues, that also may force the Assembly back to the Capitol.

Other bills getting final, two-house approval include raising from 20 to 50 hours the

supervised practice driving requirements for teenagers taking driver education courses; new

requirements for governors to turn over public documents to the state archives; and an

authorization for Erie County to transfer Beeman Creek Park to the Town of Clarence.

Erie County's additional 1 percent sales tax levy was extended, something that has been

done annually since the mid-1980s.

The domestic workers measure will provide new protections for more than 200,000 nannies,

housekeepers and elderly caregivers. It includes new overtime pay requirements, minimum wage

protections, and letting domestic workers choose a day of rest each week.

The agreement on changes to the state's divorce laws has been years in the making.

Advocates say the no-fault provision will make for quicker and less expensive divorces for

couples who want to end their marriages by mutual consent. It ends New York's being the only

state that requires "fault" or blame — such as adultery, abandonment or cruel and

unusual punishment — to end a marriage unless the partners have lived apart for at least

a year and have a separation decree.

The no-fault provision, which overwhelmingly passed the Assembly on Thursday night in a

113-19 vote after the Senate previously approved it, permits a divorce after a marriage has

"irretrievably broken down" for six months or more and after financial and custody issues are

resolved.

Assemblyman Jonathan L. Bing, D-Manhattan, who sponsored the bill, said during floor debate

Thursday night that the law now requires "one person to be judged as the bad person" in a

divorce, which he said creates animosity and extended legal battles and is damaging for

children in the family. Supporters say that it also forces some couples to commit perjury in

order to find fault.

"We are really creating history tonight," Bing told his colleagues. He said couples

splitting up amicably "will be able to leave that relationship with dignity and respect and a

better relationship with their children."

The issue has split some women's groups. The Women's Bar Association of New York supported

it, but the state chapter of the National Organization for Women was opposed, saying judges

could ignore cruel and inhuman treatment of domestic-violence victims.

Religious organizations, such as the Catholic Church, opposed the measure, saying that it

would make it too simple to get divorced in New York, the last state in the nation without

some sort of no-fault law.

"We believe the state is sending the wrong message about marriage and its place in

society," said Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the New York Catholic Conference, which

represents bishops in the state. He said the measure turns marriage "into a disposable

commodity as soon as one party or the other wants out."

But supporters say the state's current law often favors one spouse over the other, is

unwieldy and expensive, and offers no uniform approach from judge to judge. The legislative

agreement does not take away legal routes to assign blame in a divorce, but adds no-fault as

an option, which will be useful for couples splitting amicably.

A spokesman for Gov. David A. Paterson declined to preview whether the governor would sign

the bills, but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said, "I have reason to believe

he will."

Though the no-fault issue has gotten the headlines, the alimony measure is a dramatic

change, supporters say, because it will establish a clear formula — based on specific

income levels and length of the marriage — for judges to use in divorce proceedings. The

bill also keeps judicial discretion in awards if the formula results in an "unjust or

improper" alimony. Supporters say most divorces do not get bogged down over assigning blame,

but over financial matters. Weinstein called the alimony changes "long overdue reform."

"Sort of lost in this debate about no-fault has been the economic consequences of divorces,

most particularly on women, and the fact that there are women in abusive relationships who

have grounds for divorce, and don't need no-fault, but can't get out of an abusive

relationship because of the economic consequences of doing that," she said.

The assemblywoman said the alimony formula includes a specific factor that will have to be

considered if a person has been denied "economic opportunities" in terms of employment because

of domestic violence.

"The economic issues that we address in this reform," she said, "will have a much more

lasting and far-reaching impact on the lives of New Yorkers than this additional ground of

no-fault."