Personal Legal Services

Separation

Some married couples never get as far as divorce, but are happy to stay living apart.

You do not need any formal legal documents if you are separated, although it can be helpful to record an agreement in a ‘Deed of Separation’. This Deed can record any agreement that you reach about children, money and property. It can also deal with any plans that you may have to divorce, or not to divorce in the future.

A Deed of Separation is not automatically binding on a divorce Court. If you later divorce, you may need to make your agreement binding by a financial order made as part of the divorce.

You and your spouse should each have separate legal advice before you sign such a legal agreement. You should have told each other all there is to know about your financial position.

If you divorce after making a Deed of Separation, you can agree to keep to the terms of the financial settlement in the Deed. If one or both of you want the Court to make other financial orders, the Court has the power to do this, even if you have a Deed. However, if you were each given proper advice by solicitors when the Deed was drawn up, and you were both honest about your financial position, the Court will be reluctant to change the original arrangements. The Court may only be able to do this if circumstances have changed in a way that makes the terms of the Deed unfair. 

Judicial Separation

Judicial separation is not common these days, but it can be an alternative if one or both of you have moral objections to divorce. It is a Court order, like a divorce, and follows the same procedure. The Court can make orders about children and most money matters in judicial separation proceedings in the same way as in divorce proceedings. As with divorce, you will not longer have any legal duty to live together. The main difference is that after judicial separation you cannot marry anyone else.