Separation means to live apart from your spouse. The law does not require you to file documents to live apart unless you want to make it legal. Once you put it in writing, the court will make an order (much like a decree of divorce) that outlines the rights and responsibilities of each spouse while they are living apart. It’s good to note that legal separation agreements should be voluntary.

About legal separation agreements

The separation agreement gives the relationship time to change as you spend some time apart. If you were hurt, the time you spend apart from each other gives you time to heal and you can opt to resolve your issues and continue with the relationship or file for divorce.  While you are living apart, you need to pay for child support and sometimes spousal support if your spouse isn’t working. Plenty of cases have been seen where some spouses want a lot of money. To ensure that you don’t pay more than what you are comfortable paying, you should work with a reputable spousal or child support lawyer. The legal expert will discuss with your spouse on your behalf and settle on a reasonable amount.

If you have tried resolving your issues without success, experts recommend that you go ahead and file for divorce. When you are going through the divorce you have to deal with spousal support, property division, and child support if you had children in your marriage. To have an easy time in your divorce you should have a reputable divorce lawyer by your side.

Requirements of a separation agreement

As mentioned above to make your separation legal, you should have it in writing. The agreement should have basic details such as when the marriage commenced, how long it lasted, the date of the separation, personal details of the involved parties are such as name, address, social security number, date of birth and the date that the agreement was reached. It also should include information on the terms agreed on. These include terms of child custody, support, spousal maintenance, division of property and many others.

Conclusion

A separation agreement doesn’t mean that the marriage you worked hard for is gone. It simply gives you time to analyze yourself and identify what you might have done wrong. You should work at resolving your issues but if the resolution has failed, you should hire a family lawyer to take you through the divorce process.