New York Removal of Barriers to Remarriage: Form UD-4 Filing

If you were married in a religious ceremony in New York, the removal of barriers to remarriage rule under Domestic Relations Law Section 253 requires you to take every step within your power to free your spouse to remarry under your shared faith, and to swear to it in writing, before a court will grant your divorce or annulment. The law is best known for the Jewish Get, but it reaches any religious tradition in which one spouse’s action or inaction can block the other’s remarriage. Miss the requirement and the case stalls; lie about it and you face a felony charge.¹

Which Marriages Are Covered

Section 253 applies only when a clergyperson or minister performed your marriage, whether the ceremony took place in New York or elsewhere. If a judge, city clerk, or other civil officiant married you, the statute does not apply and the civil decree is enough. The reach of the law tracks the categories of officiants listed in DRL Section 11, including ordained clergy and leaders of the Society for Ethical Culture.¹

The distinction shows up on page one of your paperwork. The Unified Court System’s uncontested divorce packet asks whether the marriage was performed by a clergyperson or a civil officiant. Check the civil box and the sworn statement requirement drops out entirely.²

What Counts as a Barrier

A barrier is any religious or conscientious restraint that one spouse’s act or omission imposes on the other under the principles of the clergyperson who performed the ceremony. Refusing to deliver a Get is the textbook example. The definition is broad enough to reach any faith in which one spouse holds the keys.¹

Two limits keep it from overreaching. A restraint that cannot be removed by a spouse’s own voluntary act is not a barrier under the statute. And no one is required to consult a clergyperson to find out whether a barrier exists. The obligation applies only to what you already know is within your power to lift.¹

What the Filing Spouse Must Do

If you are the plaintiff and your marriage was religious, Section 253 imposes two steps at two stages.

Your verified complaint must include an allegation that you have already taken, or will take before final judgment, all steps within your power to remove any barrier to your spouse’s remarriage. In the alternative, you can allege that your spouse has waived the requirement in writing.¹

Then, before the court will enter any final judgment, you must file and serve a sworn statement confirming that the steps are actually done. If the complaint said you “will take” the steps, they need to be complete when this statement is filed. A promise in the complaint is not enough by itself.¹ Without the follow-up, no judgment issues.³

When Both Spouses Must File

The obligation is not one-sided in every case. In uncontested divorces where the defendant appears and does not contest the relief requested, subsection 4 requires both parties to file and serve sworn statements confirming they have removed all barriers to the other’s remarriage. This provision catches defendants who might otherwise stay quiet through an uncontested case while withholding a religious divorce.¹ If either party refuses, no final judgment gets entered.

Filing and Serving Form UD-4

The Unified Court System publishes the Sworn Statement of Removal of Barriers to Remarriage as Form UD-4, part of the uncontested divorce packet. You fill in the county, both spouses’ names, and the index number.⁴

Pick one of the two statements on the form: either that you have taken all steps within your power to remove barriers, or that your spouse has waived the requirement in writing. If your spouse signed a waiver, attach a copy. Sign the form in front of a notary.⁴

Once notarized, serve a copy on your spouse. In an uncontested case, service can happen at the same time you serve the summons and verified complaint, either by personal delivery or by mail. Complete an Affidavit of Service (Form UD-4a) and file it with the sworn statement at the County Clerk’s office.² The court will not calendar the case or enter a default judgment without proof of proper service.⁴

The Officiant’s Role in Enforcement

Subsection 7 gives the clergyperson who performed the marriage an unusual role. Even after the plaintiff files the required sworn statement, the court cannot enter final judgment if the officiant submits a sworn statement certifying that the plaintiff has not in fact taken all steps within their power to remove barriers. The officiant can override a self-serving claim of compliance.¹

This check applies only when the officiant is alive, available, and competent to testify at the time judgment would be entered. If the clergyperson has died or is unavailable, the court works from the plaintiff’s sworn statement alone. For a defendant who suspects the other side is lying, asking the officiant to weigh in is a real option.

What Happens If a Spouse Refuses

The primary enforcement mechanism is simply that the case does not finish. No final judgment of divorce or annulment gets entered until the sworn statement is filed and the court is satisfied the barriers are gone. A plaintiff who will not cooperate cannot obtain a divorce; the case stays open and both parties remain married.¹

The judge does not interpret religious doctrine or decide whether a particular tradition actually requires a formal release. The court’s job is narrower: whether the party has done what is within their power.¹

Property Division and Maintenance

DRL Section 236(B)(5)(h) directs the court to consider the effect of a barrier to remarriage when dividing marital property, alongside the standard equitable distribution factors of income, duration of the marriage, and each spouse’s financial circumstances. A parallel provision at Section 236(B)(6)(o) requires the court to consider a barrier when setting maintenance. In practice, refusing to grant a religious divorce can cost you a larger share of the marital estate or a higher support obligation.⁵

Tax Consequences of a Stalled Case

A delayed final judgment keeps you married for tax purposes. The IRS looks at your status on the last day of the tax year, and without a final decree by December 31, you are considered married for the entire year regardless of any interlocutory decree or pending action.⁶ Your filing options narrow to Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately, with a limited Head of Household exception if your spouse did not live in the home for the last six months of the year, you paid more than half the cost of keeping it up, and it was your dependent child’s main home for more than half the year.⁷ New York state filing status generally follows the federal return.⁸

Criminal Liability for a False Statement

The sworn statement is not a formality. Subsection 8 provides that anyone who knowingly submits a false sworn statement under Section 253 is guilty of making an apparently sworn false statement in the first degree under Penal Law Section 210.40.¹ That is a Class E felony, punishable by up to four years in prison,⁹ with felony fines reaching $5,000 or double the defendant’s gain from the crime, whichever is higher.¹⁰ Combined with the officiant’s ability to file a counter-statement, the exposure is real: a false sworn statement can collapse the divorce case and produce a criminal charge in the same stroke.

1
New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law 253 – Removal of Barriers to Remarriage
2
New York State Unified Court System. Uniform Uncontested Divorce Packet
3
WomensLaw.org. New York Domestic Relations Law 253 – Removal of Barriers to Remarriage
4
New York State Unified Court System. Instructions for Sworn Statement of Removal of Barriers to Remarriage
5
New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law 236 – Special Controlling Provisions
6
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals
7
Internal Revenue Service. Filing Taxes After Divorce or Separation
8
Tax.NY.gov. Filing Status
9
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 70.00 – Sentence of Imprisonment for Felony
10
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 80.00 – Fine for Felony