There is a good article in Wikipedia about types of divorce laws
While you can use it to get the basic understanding of the steps you will have to take and can opt for do it yourself divorce, it is still advisable to use services of a qualified attorney, which can be relatively inexpensive and save you a lot of time and make sure you do things right. There are a lot of information about law firms specializing in uncontested divorce online.
To summarize, Uncontested Divorce in the State of New York recognises only divorce based on the fault-basis criteria. This means that parties still can get an uncontested divorce but one of the parties ((defendant or respondent)) is willing to allege one of the fault based grounds recognised by the State of New York as basis for divorce.
These grounds are the following 6:
- Cruel and inhuman treatment (Domestic Relations Law §170.1)
- Abandonment for a continuous period of one year or more (DRL §170.2)
- Imprisonment for more than three years subsequent to the marriage (DRL §170.3)
- Adultery (DRL §170.4)
- Conversion of a separation judgment (DRL §170.5)
- Conversion of a written and acknowledged separation agreement after living separate and apart for more than one year (DRL §170.6)
These are the only grounds for divorce in New York. Your attorney may advise you how to proceed and how to file for separation agreement or judgment and during the application for the divorce after a year of separation, especially in the case when the defendant does not answer the legal requests. In this case, the plaintiff may seek a default judgment by filing an application in the court so the Separation agreement can be converted into Judgment of Divorce.
Here is a few links to New York Supreme Court divorce section and No children divorce where along with the basic information one can find and download forms and other material.
