Why People Choose Legal Separation
To allow one spouse to remain on the other spouse’s benefits.
Especially among older couples, maintaining the benefits one received during marriage can be very important. This is especially true where one spouse depends on the other spouse to provide health insurance. After a divorce, both parties are responsible for their own health insurance—this may not be feasible for one of the spouses. For that spouse, a legal separation allows them to remain on health insurance.
For religious or moral reasons.
Many religions frown upon divorce. And some non-religious individuals were also raised to believe that a divorce is inappropriate. Some believe in the commitment they made at the time of marriage. The decision to divorce or stay married belongs solely to each spouse in the marriage. We do not advise people one way or another on that decision, and we respect everyone’s personal choices. We understand and respect people who want to stay married for religious or moral reasons.
The financial decisions of the other spouse.
We commonly help individuals who do not want to be divorced but are concerned about being irreparably harmed by the other spouse’s poor financial decisions. These include, for example, a spouse with gambling addictions who is running up credit card debt or a spouse who is choosing to drive while intoxicated or a spouse who is racking up extensive debt on a business. In such situations, it is easy to see why someone would want to cut the financial tie from the person they love. These individuals are often relieved to find out that divorce is not the only option and that can stay married to the person they love without having the financial liability for their spouse’s poor choices.
For emotional reasons.
We frequently have individuals who want to start by filing for legal separation as a way of lessening the emotional blow that often accompanies filing for divorce. We certainly understand that filing divorce paperwork can be a traumatic and difficult; whereas a legal separation does not carry the same emotional punch.
