Appeals (1) from an order of the Supreme Court (Kramer, J.), entered June 12, 1997 in Schenectady County, which denied defendant’s motion to vacate a default judgment of divorce, and (2) from an order of said court, entered October 6, 1997 in Schenectady County, which denied defendant’s motion for reconsideration.
The parties were married in Italy in 1958 and have two emancipated children. In 1969 they moved to the City of Schenectady, Schenectady County and thereafter acquired real estate in Schenectady and the Town of Rotterdam, as well as property in Italy. Beginning in 1993 plaintiff made two attempts to commence a divorce action against defendant but was unable to obtain proper service; however, in July 1995 while defendant was in Italy visiting her ailing mother, plaintiff hired an Italian attorney, Maria Tonolo, to serve defendant. Service was made pursuant to 28 USC rule 4, which permits service of process in a foreign country when carried out in conformity with the Hague Convention, a treaty to which both the United States and Italy are signatories. In this instance the process server went to the home of defendant’s mother where defendant was residing at the time, but finding that defendant was not present, served defendant’s son-in-law. Although defendant was not personally served, Tonolo submitted a certificate to the effect that this service was in accordance with Italian Civil Procedure Code § 139 which governs service of process. Defendant neither appeared nor filed an answer to the action and as a result plaintiff was granted a default judg
To vacate the default judgment defendant was required to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for her default, as well as a meritorious defense to the action (see, Koch v Koch,
Defendant then moved for reconsideration, which was also denied. It is clear that the denial of a motion to reargue is not appealable (see, Spa Realty Assocs. v Springs Assocs.,
As to the distribution of the parties’ marital assets, we find that there was insufficient evidence presented to enable Supreme Court to make a proper determination of this issue (see, Michalek v Michalek,
Therefore, we reverse so much of Supreme Court’s orders regarding the equitable distribution of the marital property and remit the matter for further proceedings.
Cardona, P. J., Crew III, Yesawich Jr. and Graffeo, JJ., concur. Ordered that the orders are modified, on the law, without costs, by reversing so much thereof as directed equitable distribution of the parties’ marital assets; matter remitted to the Supreme Court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this Court’s decision; and, as so modified, affirmed.
