Understand Legal Separation Before Filing

If you are under the impression that legal separation is part of every divorce suit, you would be mistaken. The truth is that legal separation is its own legal procedure and can be just as long and costly as divorce.

Although many people do decide to live separately before their divorce is finalized, this is not considered a legal separation. The purpose of petitioning for legal separation is to ask the other spouse to pay support while the two parties live apart.

If someone then decides to get a divorce then they must file a "Petition For Dissolution of Marriage," also referred to as divorce papers. The parties must then wait for their court date for a trial or attempt to settle their differences outside of court. From the time that you file divorce papers to the final court hearing, you could easily spend one year getting a divorce. The same process can be said of legal separation even though the two parties are not seeking a divorce at the time.

Have questions about legal separation?  Contact us to set up a consultation with a Riverside family lawyer.