A woman from Long Island appears to have made legal history by being the first person in the state to be granted a contested no-fault divorce, reports the New York Post.

Previously, in a contested divorce, the partner seeking the divorce had to claim that the breakdown of the marriage was the fault of the other partner e.g. on the grounds of adultery. A legal amendment introduced just over a year ago added a no-fault provision in an attempt to make the divorce process less acrimonious. Under this change, only one partner needed to claim that the marriage had been irretrievably broken for at least six months.

Until now, the provision had only been used in non-contested divorces, however in the case in question, a 79-year-old woman wanted to end her marriage, but her husband didn't. Based on the evidence presented, the judge agreed with the woman that the marriage was irretrievably over, and granted her the divorce despite the objections of her husband.