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Sacramento Legal Separation Lawyers

Legal separation is an alternative to divorce when two people agree that they can no longer live as a married couple, but do not want to end the marital relationship. There are numerous reasons to obtain a legal separation instead of divorce, including for religious purposes, or to allow for one spouse to maintain health insurance for the other. Legal separation is not a viable option if either party plans to remarry.

Many attorneys also use legal separation as a jurisdictional tool. In order to file for divorce in California, you must have lived in the county in which you filed for at least six months, and in California for at least three months. The earliest one can get a divorce is then six months and one day from the date of filing of the petition for divorce. Legal separation does not have the same jurisdictional requirements. Filing a legal separation action first, and then amending it later to be a divorce action, allows for a spouse to get the filing date of the legal separation for purposes of counting six months and one day. Hence, it is a method for obtaining a divorce judgment earlier than if you had to wait to meet the jurisdictional requirements for filing a divorce petition.

A legal separation action allows parties to obtain similar orders as in divorce. These orders may include child custody, child support, spousal support, and division of property. HOSE & SANCHEZ attorneys can help you decide whether legal separation is right for you.