Some married couples try very hard to resolve their differences only to find that they just cannot reside in the same home anymore, at least for now. Washington State allows these spouses to enter into a legal separation agreement set up by a Family Lawyer in Silverdale Wa. They then can continue to work on their marriage while living apart.
Protecting Each Person’s Financial Interests
The legal separation set up through a firm such as Lindsay & Lindsay protects each person’s interests. The agreement divides up the financial responsibilities and prohibits either person from dissolving bank accounts or other assets.
Child Custody and Visitation
The agreement also covers aspects like child custody and visitation, although a relatively large percentage of couples do not include this subject. They prefer to keep this arrangement more casual, which is acceptable as long as they continue to treat each other with respect. If either starts trying to undermine the other’s relationship with the children or limiting time spent together, modifying the legal separation may become appropriate.
Time Frame
A Family Lawyer in Silverdale Wa may set up this separation for a year’s length, after which time it will be revisited and revised if necessary. By this time, many legally separated couples will have gotten back together or begun divorce proceedings. Statistics show that most couples who enter into a legal separation get divorced within three years.
Long-Term Legal Separation
Interestingly, however, about 15 percent of legally separated couples stay married and do not move back in together. There are various reasons for this, and sociologists and psychologists find the topic intriguing.
Some couples stay married for financial reasons. Some couples don’t actually make a decision to stay married; they just never bother to file for divorce. It doesn’t seem important if they’re not interested in marrying someone else.
Then there are couples who find that they get along better when they live apart, so they simply continue their marriage in this fashion. They live close to each other so the children can easily go from one home to the other and everyone can conveniently spend time together.
