Portland Divorce Lawyer: What is a Legal Separation?

When a couple decides to bring an end to their marriage, there are a lot of questions and decisions to be made. What is the right course of action for you and even for your partner? Some things to consider are the couple’s relationship, wants, and expectations.

A legal separation can at times be as complicated and involved as a divorce because the marital assets and debt will need to be divided, child custody will need to be worked out, and child support will need to be determined. If there are any claims to spousal support, maintenance, transitional, and compensatory, these will also need to be resolved.

The three major types of legal separation are: (1) informal separation, (2) limited separation, and (3) unlimited separation. An informal separation is simply when the parties live apart for a period of time. A limited separation is where a judge signs a Limited Judgment of Separation. This is confined to a specific period of time. An unlimited separation is the most common in that it results in finality of the parties actually separating all property and deciding to live separately going forward.

Proceedings for divorce and legal separation can be similar and may even be as complicated. For all intensive purposes, the process is exactly the same. Yet, after a divorce is finalized, the couple is no longer legally married. After a legal separation is finalized, however, the couple is still legally married. Some may wonder then, what is the point of a legal separation? Legal separations bring about the following: neither partner will be allowed to legally remarry; if asked under penalty of perjury both partners will have to disclose they are legally married; a woman cannot legally go by her maiden name; partners can share and have access to coverage of certain health, military or government benefits; the couple has financial independence from one another; and for those whose religion does not condone divorce, a legal separation allows partners a degree of freedom from each other without disregarding religious values.

Highlighted benefits of a legal separation include financial independence that can give the couple space as they possibly contemplate moving forward with a divorce. In some situations, couples reach an amicable decision to continue health insurance in order to provide access to needed medical care or benefits.

One benefit to a legal separation is that it can be converted to a dissolution of marriage within two years. This is accomplished by filing a motion to convert your legal separation to a dissolution of marriage. The other party will have the opportunity to contest the motion but most times these are fairly straightforward in that both parties agree to the conversion.