Legal Separation Basics

There are many ways that people refer to legal separation, including divorce from bed-and-board, judicial separation, divorce a mensa et thoro, and separate maintenance. Basically, it is a way to stay legally married with a formalized de facto separation. In many situations a married couple has certain moral or religious objections to filing for divorce, and in these cases obtaining a legal separation is a good alternative.

Similar to getting a divorce, the separation agreement may address issues such as child support, child visitation, child custody, alimony, and division of assets and debts.

Most states recognize legal separation. The following are the only states that do NOT recognize legal separation: Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Texas.