Separation Agreements

Before you can file for an Uncontested Divorce, you must reach an agreement, or rather,

enter into a Separation Agreement, with your spouse on all of the relevant issues to dissolve

your marriage. These issues generally include the following: custody, parenting time or

visitation, spousal maintenance, child support, counsel fees, expert fees, and equitable

distribution.

Equitable distribution is the division of your marital assets and debts, such as, bank

accounts, real property, including but not limited to, the marital residence, investment accounts,

stocks, bonds, and children’s education accounts. Martial debts could include, credit cards,

student loans, personal loans, mortgages, home equity lines of credit, or automobile loans

acquired during the marriage.

A Separation Agreement is a legally binding contract between spouses that addresses

all of the outstanding legal marital issues. These agreements will clearly define the rights and

obligations of each party. If you and your spouse are able to reach an agreement on all of these

applicable issues, this will significantly streamline the divorce process. It is beneficial for the

parties to enter into an agreement, with the guidance of their own independent legal counsel, as

it provides the parties with more control over their future. An agreement allows the parties to

structure parameters for their lives that may otherwise not be available to them through litigation

and promotes a more creative and customized problem-solving process.

Not all Separation Agreements are used to immediately initiate a divorce proceeding to

dissolve the marriage. Instead, couples may choose to remain legally married and abide by the

terms of a Separation Agreement. This allows couples to physically separate while still creating

a contract to address financial and/or custodial issues. Separating couples also may choose to

do this in order to remain covered under their spouse’s health insurance, or for religious

purposes, or simply for personal reasons. However, at any time after entering into a Separation

Agreement, one of the spouses may commence an Uncontested Divorce proceeding by the

filing of, among other papers, the fully executed Separation Agreement. This process will give

further significance to the legally binding contract as ultimately the terms of the Separation

Agreement will be incorporated but not merged into a Judgement of Divorce. This will allow

either party to enforce the Agreement or obtain further Orders such as, retirement asset orders

known as Domestic Relations Orders (DRO) or Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDRO).

A Separation Agreement may be favorable as it typically saves significant time and

resources of the parties. It also allows the parties to have more control over the terms of their

separation. The significance of the terms in the Agreement are substantial and have lasting

implications on the parties, and as such, legal counsel should be obtained when considering

entering into a Separation Agreement.