What Are My Rights During Legal Separation?

Legal separation is another name of judicial separation in which the married couple decided to live separate and end all types of martial obligations which they have to one another. People usually confused this term with divorce where there is a big difference between legal separation and divorce. The basic thing which makes legal separation different from divorce is that the couple will remain married and cannot remarry with someone else until the divorce. In short, they both will maintain their marital status even if they are not living together and already ended their marital obligations. This is why sometimes judicial separation is also called trial separation.

In different states of America and other countries like Canada, UK, and Australia the term legal separation has different names which include judicial separation, trial separation, limited divorce, separation from bed and dissolution of marriage etc. So, you should not confuse these terms when you are filing for legal separation in court.

Rights of spouses having judicial separation

It is true that in judicial separation the marital obligation of spouses on each other ends but it does not mean that their responsibilities and legal rights also end. The both spouses received their legal rights even if they are not living together but usually, there are more rights for the wife as compared to rights of the husband in legal separation. This is because the court usually gives the custody of children to the wife where if the children are minors then the list of legal rights for wife further increased. But usually, the most general rights for spouses during separation are balanced which includes:

1. Spouses living in same house:

Legal separation does not end your legal marital agreement, which means that both, husband and wife have the right to live in same house. This is happened when they both are sharing the rent or other payments of a house, which makes both of them the owner of a single house.

2. Child custody after separation:

Usually, it is court who decided about the custody of children or the couple can agree on the same term that who will take care of the children but legally they both has right to ask for child custody. While means that if you both are not ending on the same decision related to child custody then it is your legal right to get custody of your child through court. Although you can challenge the decision of the court to get the custody of your child.

3. Alimony and property division:

The division related to property, alimony, assets and other financial obligations are equally divided between spouses or the court may have different decision on the basis of nature of case but both spouses have right to ask for different ratio of alimony and property in court but the final decision will be made by the court which can be further challenge in extreme circumstance.

4. Rights related to separation of debts:

Husband and wife can decide that which debts each spouse is required to pay. One person cannot force other to pay specific debt including the mortgage of house etc. The spouses have right to ask the court that he/she will only pay those debts which are wholly related to themselves. For example, if both of them has the mortgage a house and after separation one spouse decided to live in the same house then the other can ask to remove mortgage from him/her as he/she is not living in the same house further.

5. Child support after separation:

Child support will be awarded to the person who will get the custody of the children. Although the court may be required to pay the spousal support to the person who got the custody of children.

6. Spousal support during separation:

In some states of America, like child support the spouse who is financially weak can ask for the spousal support from his/her spouse. This could be done with a mutual agreement or also through court. This is because they both are still legally married with each other. Although one has right to refuse the spousal support but he or she need to give a solid reason for this (usually financial crises).

People usually prefer to go with judicial separation instead of a divorce because it is cheap while this gives time to both of them to decide whether they want to end their marriage or not. According to latest studies, legal separation helped to decrease the ratio of divorce in America, Canada UK and many other countries where most of the couple end their legal separation contract after some time.