All marriages are not perfect. While some couples may try to resolve their issues, sometimes that is not always possible. When all efforts have failed, it could lead to legal separation or divorce. There are situations you may want to consider before deciding which option is best for your marriage.
Identification
Sometimes legal separation is on the path leading to divorce, although legal separation doesn't always lead to divorce. On the other hand, not all divorces go through legal separation. Dissolution, or divorce, terminates a marriage entirely along with your rights and responsibilities, as well as your spouse's. Legal separation does not dissolve the marriage while leaving some rights and privileges intact, such as allowing your spouse to stay on your health insurance policy.
Function
Divorce is the full and final termination of a marital relationship. During the divorce process, both spouses must divide property and marital assets, reach a settlement of all debts incurred during the marriage and make any necessary arrangements for child custody and child support. Naturally, you have the right to create almost any arrangement you like in regards to division of assets, debts and child related issues. However, the court can intervene, applying state laws when an agreement cannot be reached by both parties. During legal separation, you will both follow the same course as dissolution to reach a settlement or agreement by using mediators, attorneys or arbitration. The goal of legal separation is finding a workable agreement between you and your spouse, using the authority of the court to divide interests in marital assets.
Features
Legal separation, as well as divorce, begins by you filing a petition with the court. According to LegalZoom.com, the petition contains the terms you would like enforced. Your spouse will have the opportunity to respond to your petition and has the right to accept or contest any of the terms in the petition. Once an agreement is reached, the formal agreement is drafted and filed. The formal agreement is then filed with the court and will become final once the court grants the motion for a legal separation.
Significance
Certain situations can arise that would make a couple choose legal separation instead of divorce. Couples may choose legal separation due to social or religious stigma. In these circumstances, both parties can live separate lives from a legal and civic standpoint without terminating the marriage. Another common cause for legal separation is preservation of certain benefits, such as Social Security benefits, insurance benefits and access to pension. According to LegalZoom.com, when a divorce takes place, both spouses lose all rights to privileges, such as the ones just mentioned, because a divorce terminates the marriage.
Considerations
In some relationships, legal separation can offer a cooling-off period, allowing you and your spouse to reconcile. In other circumstances, it becomes necessary to terminate the marriage due to a severely strained relationship that cannot be reconciled. In some states, when a legal separation precedes divorce, either spouse can convert the filings into a dissolution of the marriage, leaving all terms intact. Other states require a new petition to be filed. When legal separation leads to divorce, the courts are unlikely to make any significant modifications to the originally filed petition as far as division of marital assets and properties.
