Opinion
May 10, 1999
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Barone, J.).
Ordered that the purported appeal from the order entered May 21, 1997, is dismissed, without costs or disbursements, as the appeal from that order was previously dismissed by decision and order on motion of this Court dated August 13, 1997; and it is further,
Ordered that the remaining orders are affirmed, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Westchester County, for further proceedings consistent herewith.
Under the circumstances of this case, the court did not err in bifurcating the issue of whether the defendant husband was entitled to a judgment of divorce based on his counterclaim of abandonment and the issues of equitable distribution and maintenance ( cf., Campbell v. Campbell, 171 A.D.2d 720).
We have examined the plaintiff wife's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit, except that this matter must be remitted to the Supreme Court, Westchester County, to decide the issues of equitable distribution and maintenance.
Mangano, P. J., H. Miller, Feuerstein, Schmidt and Smith, JJ., concur.