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HUSBAND AND WIFE SEPARATION: "LEGAL SEPARATION" AND JUST SPLITTING |
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I want to keep our marriage together. Our marriage counselor says we should separate for awhile. Do you advise we separate? |
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Do you mean the marriage counselor is wrong in advising a separation? |
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Do you ever advise separation? |
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Is a Legal separation like a divorce? |
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Why do couples have Legal separations? |
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What can a judge order in a legal separation judgment? |
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Will I get into trouble if I merely split - - leave the marital residence? |
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Can I be evicted from my house despite my wanting to stay so I can work out the problems in the marriage? |
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If I file suit for divorce and have my spouse served with summons doesn't that mean he/she has to move out? |
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| Q: |
I want to keep our marriage together. Our marriage counselor says we should separate for awhile. Do you advise we separate? |
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No. The only way problems in a marriage can be worked out is through communications. There will be no, or little, communication if you are separated. |
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| Q: |
Do you mean the marriage counselor is wrong in advising a separation? |
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Probably. My several decades of experience tells me that absence does not make the heart grow fonder. If anything, the couple, or one of them, realizes that the separation is better than living together. Maybe, however, the marriage counselors and therapists see people with marital problems much sooner than I do. Perhaps separation works better at the early stages of marital problems. |
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| Q: |
Do you ever advise separation? |
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Yes. But only to announce a divorce will happen. In a situation where one of the parties decides there will be a divorce, but the other party does not get the signal, one way to send the signal is to move out. |
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| Q: |
Is a Legal separation like a divorce? |
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Sort of. A legal separation, like a divorce, is a court procedure which produces a court judgment establishing the parties = rights and obligations. The difference between a legal separation and a divorce is that a legal separation judgment does not divorce the couple, that is, they are still married and, unless the parties consent, in legal separation proceedings the court cannot divide the parties' property. |
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| Q: |
Why do couples have Legal separations? |
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In some instances for religious reasons, but from my experience the Roman Catholic church has liberalized its positions on church annulments. |
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| Q: |
What can a judge order in a legal separation judgment? |
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(a) Child custody and visitation. (b) Child support. (c) Maintenance (alimony). |
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| Q: |
Will I get into trouble if I merely split - - leave the marital residence? |
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No, not in the sense that you are "abandoning" your house and lose interest in your house. But with children, if you intend to have custody of your children, and you leave without the children, leaving will prejudice you. |
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| Q: |
Can I be evicted from my house despite my wanting to stay so I can work out the problems in the marriage? |
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Yes, under the Domestic Violence Act. |
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| Q: |
If I file suit for divorce and have my spouse served with summons doesn't that mean he/she has to move out? |
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No. That would be unfair. What if your spouse filed suit for divorce and served you with summons? Would that mean that you had to vacate the marital residence? Of course not. |
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