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Baruch v. Baruch

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Feb 26, 1996
224 A.D.2d 649 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)

Opinion

February 26, 1996

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Schmidt, J.).


Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.

Although this Court has adopted a liberal policy of vacating defaults in matrimonial actions, the opening of a default remains discretionary (see, Bicknell v. Bicknell, 214 A.D.2d 598; Sayagh v. Sayagh, 205 A.D.2d 678), and "it is still incumbent upon the moving party to show a reasonable excuse for the default (i.e., that it was neither intentional nor willful)" (Kellerman v Kellerman, 203 A.D.2d 533, 534; Arvanetes v. Arvanetes, 191 A.D.2d 893). In this case, the defendant repeatedly disregarded notices to attend preliminary conferences and to appear for trial because he believed that these tactics would prevent the court from proceeding in the action, and thereby obstruct the plaintiff's efforts to obtain a divorce. Under these circumstances, the Supreme Court properly determined that the defendant's default was willful, and, accordingly, that his motion to vacate should be denied. Moreover, contrary to the defendant's contention, we note that the court took sufficient evidence at the inquest to enable it to make the necessary findings in accordance with Domestic Relations Law § 236 (B) (see, Otto v. Otto, 150 A.D.2d 57, 69). O'Brien, J.P., Copertino, Santucci and Krausman, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Baruch v. Baruch

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Feb 26, 1996
224 A.D.2d 649 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)
Case details for

Baruch v. Baruch

Case Details

Full title:DIANE BARUCH, Respondent, v. RANDY BARUCH, Appellant

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Feb 26, 1996

Citations

224 A.D.2d 649 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)
638 N.Y.S.2d 485

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