What is a legal separation in divorce?
When a couple gets a legal separation, it is very similar to divorce. It
will include the same process of filing papers with the court to initiate a
legal action. The court next makes the decisions on where the children will
live, debts, and assets in the event of a divorce. In the end, the parties
are legally separated rather than being actually divorced. So in essence,
this means that they are still married but not responsible for each other
and what the other party does.
Generally a legal separation comes about in the final stages of a couple's
arguments or issues in getting along. It can be a way of taking a breather
and finding out what each party wants our of the relationship. For some
people, there is no reason to rush into getting divorce because it is a
decision that has to be well thought out just as the marriage should have
been.
Sometimes when people are on a legal separation, they will try and work
things out. But, there are some cases, where it will not work and in the
end, the parties' involved want to get a divorce. One year after the legal
separation is granted, one of the parties can petition to convert the
separation to a legal divorce. They can do this without any further hearings
and the other party cannot prevent it from happening. As you can see, many
people sometimes prefer the separation instead of a divorce because of their
religious beliefs or for insurance purposes.
If the party does decide to have a divorce, it will terminate their
marriage. In order to do that, parties at hand will go to court and decide
how to handle questions of the children and how to divide their marital
property. Each party is would be held accountable for one half of the
marital debts.
One important fact that many couples overlook is the issue of what marital
property is defined as. Marital property is anything that the couple bought
while they were married. Whether the property is in one person's name or
another, it is still considered marital property. It doesn't even matter who
purchased it. Bank accounts, pensions, and stocks are marital property even
if they are held in one name only. In addition, property brought into the
marriage is still marital depending on the length of the marriage and what
type of property it is. The court will always be as fair as it can and
sometimes the parties at hand will make the right choices about being fair
in the divorce.
It is always a good thing when a couple can make their own right decisions
about how things should be split up before they actually go to court. Both
parties should have attorneys regardless of old choices made between the
couple. This will help things progress along without having to worry about
any legalities. This is the best way to protect each party's assets and to
make sure that the proceedings are fair.
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