NYC Remained Wife's Primary Residence Despite Retreat to Summer Home During Pandemic
LVT Number: #31988
Husband and wife, who lived in New York County, owned a second home in Suffolk County. The wife retreated there in March 2020 when the COVID pandemic struck. In August 2020, the husband sued for divorce in Suffolk County. The court denied the wife's request to change the court's venue to New York County.
The wife appealed and won. The appeals court found that, under the circumstances, sheltering in place in the couple's seasonal home didn't create a sufficient degree of permanence to establish residency at that location. Because the couple's stays in Suffolk County were seasonal and temporary, neither the husband nor the wife was a resident of Suffolk County when the divorce action was commenced. Neither the parties' seasonal use of the Suffolk County house on weekends before March 2020, nor the wife's retreat there at the outset of the COVID pandemic made the parties Suffolk County residents. The wife's income tax returns, bank statements, and her driver's license and voter registration also showed that the parties resided primarily in New York County.
Fisch v. Davidson: Index No. 2021-00155, 2022 NY Slip Op 01442, NYLJ No. 1646918512 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; 3/9/22; LaSalle, PJ, Connolly, Iannacci, Wooton, JJ)