Legal separation in Alabama is like a divorce without divorcing.  Confused?  When you come to the point that you can no longer live with one another, you have some options as to how to go about your separate ways.  Whether or not you anticipate getting back together, legal separation is an option by which one, or both sides ask the Court to get involved in dividing things up, ordering visitation and support for the children, alimony for the spouse who needs it, and any other issue upon which the husband and wife cannot agree.

What you come away with is an Order of the Court that looks very similar to a divorce decree, but does not legally end the marriage.  There may be any number of reasons to separate this way.  Religious beliefs and health insurance are the two things that immediately come to mind.  One of the reasons my ex-wife extended the life of our divorce was so that she could remain insured by Tricare, the military health insurance, until she could get coverage from her employer.

Like a divorce, a legal separation is a proceeding that may require the services of an attorney.  Choose wisely.  If there is hope of getting back together, you want to make sure that you, or your attorney don’t act in a manner that might close off that option during the separation process.

All of that being said, you don’t have to  legally separate to separate.  If you and your spouse can agree on the terms, you may be able to separate without the formalities of going to Court.  You can put your agreement in the form of a written contract that lays out the terms of who’s going to do what until you file for divorce or get back together.  This may also require the services of attorneys on both sides, but a well-crafted agreement is worth its weight in gold in these types of situations.

If the agreement survives and both parties can live with it, chances are that it will form the foundation of a final divorce settlement agreement if you can’t get back together.  Another advantage to this type of separation is that, to the extent you can agree, you can change the terms without asking the Court if there are elements of the the agreement that just aren’t working.  Having an agreement that works in place, should you decide to file for divorce, will save you a lot of money in attorney’s fees that you might otherwise have spent fighting.

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