Separation Law in Grand Rapids and Surrounding Counties
You may find that a legal separation in Grand Rapids and surrounding counties (called “separate maintenance”) is the right choice for you and your family when considering options to terminate your marital relationship. Separate maintenance means that you will live independently, but the marriage is not fully broken at law. The Law Offices of Robert B. Relph provides legal separation services to clients in Grand Rapids and surrounding areas.
Reasons to Use Separate Maintenance
There are several reasons you might decide a separation is right for you:
- Moral or religious objection to divorce
- Desire personal space to consider repairing your marriage
- Want to maintain health or financial benefits for you or your spouse
- Want to plan out your divorce carefully and slowly
Process for Legal Separation (Separate Maintenance) in Grand Rapids and Surrounding Counties
Technically, there is nothing specifically in Michigan divorce law called legal separation. However, a legal separation is achieved by the filing of a divorce or an action for separate maintenance. You are not required to be legally or physically separated from your spouse to file for divorce or separate maintenance.
The process to obtain a Judgment of Separate Maintenance is very similar to a divorce procedure, except you remain legally married. You may not remarry after a legal separation and if you later decide to divorce, generally the process to convert a separate maintenance to a divorce is rather simple, as the basic terms of a legal separation will be the same as those for a divorce.
Judgment of Separate Maintenance
Like a divorce, separate maintenance determines marital issues including:
- Property/debt division
- Child custody
- Child support/visitation
- Spousal support
If there is no agreement on the judgment of separate maintenance, the judge assigned to your case may have to make decisions about your case. It may be beneficial for you and your spouse to consider working with a mediator, which mediation has benefits including:
- Lowered costs
- Privacy and confidentiality
- Less stress and trauma
- Equality in problem resolution
- Increased cooperation between spouses
- Increased likelihood of fair agreement
