Practical Law Presentations Family Law Separation, Annulment, Divorce (download this info. as a word doc) Separation 1. Separation means the wife and husband are living apart. 2. Legal separation has the added element that the arrangement is ordered by the court or consented to by the parties in a written agreement. This makes the agreement enforceable. The terms of a separation agreement usually can be modified by the court or by the parties themselves during the period of separation. 3. A separation is not the same as a divorce. Persons who are separated may not remarry. 4. A separation does not mean the husband and wife must divorce. They are free to reconcile at any time and resume living together. Annulment 5. An annulment is a court ruling that a supposed marriage was never valid. Grounds are fraud (not disclosing a prior divorce, a criminal record, etc.), one of the parties being already married, underage or too close a blood relative. 6. Annulments may be preferable to divorce in certain religions, and might avoid some of the financial obligations that a court might impose in a divorce. Divorce 7. A divorce -- referred to in some states as a dissolution of marriage -- is a decree by a court that a valid marriage no longer exists. A divorce leaves both parties free to remarry. It usually provides for division of property and makes arrangements for child custody and support. 8. Most divorces (probably more than 95 percent) do not end up in a contested trial. Usually the parties settle such things as division of property and child custody between themselves, often with help from attorneys. 9. Sometimes parties reach an agreement by mediation, with a trained mediator who tries to help husband and wife identify and accommodate common interests. The parties then present their negotiated or mediated agreement to a judge. 10. The party seeking a divorce must state a ground for divorce in the papers filed with the court. The grounds may be based on no-fault or fault, depending on the state. All states now offer no-fault divorces; approximately thirty-one states also offer fault-based grounds as an additional option. 11. In a no-fault divorce, neither the wife nor husband blames the other -- there is no need to prove "guilt" or "fault". Common bases for a no-fault divorce are "irreconcilable differences", "irretrievable breakdown", or "incompatibility". 12. In the states that allow divorces based on fault (in addition to no-fault divorces), grounds include adultery, physical cruelty, mental cruelty, desertion, and use of addictive drugs, among others. >>Family Law Home >>Separation, Annulment, Divorce >>Dividing Property in Divorce >>Determining Custody >>Tips for Divorced Parents >>Child Support Guidelines >>Unpaid Child Support Reaching the Community Home | Practical Law Presentations Home