How to Get a Legal Separation
A legal separation is when a couple stays married to one another yet lives apart and has all of their assets and liabilities equally divided. If children are involved, they will also have custody arrangements set in place for things like visitation.
- Get in touch with a lawyer. Search for lawyers in your city by looking in the yellow pages. You can also talk with friends and family to see if they have lawyers that they can recommend to you.
- Hire a lawyer. Once you have decided on a lawyer, set up a consultation with them to discuss your plans for separation. Find out your rights and what the laws are in your state regarding legal separation.
- Fill out the paperwork. Once you have found out about the specific laws in your state, fill out the necessary paperwork for filing your separation. It should be noted that in some states a legal separation can turn into a divorce with additional paperwork.
- Consult with a mediator. Meet with your spouse and a mediator to go over the details of your separation. If you are able to sit face-to-face with your spouse in a calm manner and work things out amicably amongst yourselves, you will fair better than by going before a judge.
- Understand the meaning of the separation. It is important that you realize two things about a separation. The first thing is that it is not permanent and if you and your spouse reconcile then the separation is terminated. The second thing is that in the event that you do not reconcile, a separation is not equal to a divorce. Even though you live in separate places and worked out custody and personal property division, you are still married. If you no longer wish to be married then you will have to officially file for divorce.