Legal Separation

A court process to determine some of the important rights and relationships between the spouses, but does not divorce them. So, the spouses are still married, and many legal relationships do not change, like property and debt obligations or rights. The decree for legal separation can specify various relationships between the spouses like child custody, parent-child access (visitation), child support, and Spousal maintenance (alimony) as well as a division of community property and debt up to the date of the court order, but all the legal rights and relationships resulting from marriage are not ended as with divorce.

Can a legal separation be converted into a divorce?

Yes. A legal separation can be converted to a Dissolution of Marriage (Divorce) either before or after the case has become final. If you are the petitioner and the case is not yet final, you can file an amended petition to convert the legal separation to a dissolution under the same came number. If you are the respondent and the case is not yet final, you may indicate in your response that you wish to convert the legal separation into a dissolution case.

If you are the petitioner or the respondent and your legal separation case is final, you can file a petition for a dissolution of marriage using the same case number assigned to the legal separation case. There will be an additional filing fee for the new petition for dissolution of marriage.