A Simple Guide on Legal Separation in Riverside
Separation is a major marriage decision that impacts all those around you. Not all marriages were meant to work, and the law provides options for individuals who would like to take a break from a union to decide what they’d like to do going forward. Contacting a good Riverside California family attorney will help you get the best outcome when it comes to your decision to separate from your spouse.
Here are a few reasons that most people cite when they decide to separate from their spouses:
- You may decide that you need a break of some sort and would like to see what it feels like not living with your spouse.
- You are not interested in filing for divorce just yet.
- You do not meet the residency requirements for divorce in the state of California. According to the state laws, you need to have lived in California for more than 6 months before you are allowed to file for divorce.
- You have cultural or religious reasons why it would be better to separate than divorce.
A legal separation may provide you with some perspective when it comes to your marriage, giving you a fresh set of eyes that you can use to look at the state of your relationship in a more critical manner. In addition, it’s important to understand that you may not marry or enter into a domestic partnership with another individual when you are separated since this could be illegal (you may be committing bigamy), or it could prompt your significant other to file for divorce, something that may not have been on your cards when you decided to make the decision to separate.
Legal separation usually becomes complicated if there are other parties such as children involved. This is because they are affected by your decisions to separate when it comes to family aspects such as finances, visitation and their emotional wellbeing. Because of this, it’s important to seek out a good Riverside family lawyer to help take you through the steps of legal separation in accordance with the law.
After legal separation, you may be faced with certain responsibilities with some of these being:
- Spousal support
- Child custody
- Child visitation
- Child support
- Property division
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Legal separation may sometimes make financial sense. This is because of the prohibitive costs of getting divorced. On top of that, you may decide to change your mind and resume your relationship, and being legally separated is a risk-free way of doing that without having to commit to too much. Legal separation may also come with protection order; this is beneficial when it comes to a spouse who has been the victim of domestic abuse inflicted on them by their significant other. In such cases, it makes complete sense to separate from your spouse. In order to have the law recognize your separation, you will first need to file a petition with the help of a Riverside legal separation attorney requesting legal separation. Please get in touch with us today so we can make the whole process easier for you.