It is a blessing to find your path back to happiness if your marriage has turned toxic and you need to file for a legal separation.
That being said, a lot of people view legal separation as a difficult and time-consuming process, but with the help of an Andover divorce lawyer, the process can be made simpler. You can legally obtain from your spouse financial support, child custody, shared expenses, and other things. To understand the step-by-step process of legal separation, keep reading the article.
Table of Contents
Step By Step Guide To File Legal Separation
Step 1. Move out
When you file for divorce, you will be asked for separation from your spouse before filing for divorce since many states require a certain amount of waiting period before filing for divorce. Furthermore, the separation can be informal or formal, depending upon your state’s legal requirements.
Step 2. Understand the type of divorce you want
Once you complete the waiting period, you become eligible to file for divorce with your spouse, but while doing this, you can take an attorney’s advice to identify the type of divorce you want.
Upon understanding your separation reason, your attorney will guide you toward a suitable divorce case as follows.
- No-fault divorce if your spouse was not wrongful or abusive in the marriage.
- At-fault divorce if the spouse was abusive.
Step 3. File legal separation agreement
After you know the type of divorce you need, the next step is to file for the divorce. The filing process requires an attorney as it can be complicated for someone with no legal knowledge since you will need to file a separation petition.
This petition will be filed in the divorce court of the country where your spouse resides. Furthermore, while filing the separation petition, you will provide the name and contact information of your spouse along with your kid’s information and your consideration for property division, child custody, etc.
Step4. Notify your spouse of the legal separation agreement
When your divorce gets filed, you and your spouse need to be jointly notified. So if you are not filing the divorce together, then you can ask the sheriff of your spouse about the separation agreement and notify him. However, if you do not know where your spouse is, then you can get permission from the court to publish the notice in the local newspaper.
Once your spouse sends the response to the agreement, you can make copies of it and move forward with the divorce. However, if your spouse does not send any response regardless of getting the notice, then you can request the court for a default divorce.
Step 5. Keep the records
Lastly, your divorce file will be reviewed and signed by the judge, and your divorce will be filed in court. So make sure you keep a copy of the records and ask your attorney for any further queries.