DRL 50

Property, real or personal, now owned by a married woman, or hereafter owned by a woman at the time of her marriage, or acquired by her as prescribed in this chapter, and the rents, issues, proceeds and profits thereof, shall continue to be her sole and separate property as if she were unmarried, and shall not be subject to her husband’s control or disposal nor liable for his debts.

Matter of Shields v. Madigan, 2004 NY Slip Op 24393, ¶ 3, 5 Misc. 3d 901, 904-05, 783 N.Y.S.2d 270, 274-75 (Sup. Ct.)

That only opposite-sex unions are contemplated by this statutory scheme is made clear by the Legislature’s repetitive use of gender-specific terms in core components of the Domestic Relations Law. 

Statutory provisions relating to annulments, divorces and separation contain similar references to the terms “husband” and “wife” (see Domestic Relations Law §§ 50, 73 [1]; § 140 [a],[e]; §§ 170, 175, 200, 221, 248). It is a basic tenet of statutory construction that all parts of an act are to be read consistently and construed together. (Statutes §§ 97, 98.)