Legal Separation Agreements

Sometimes a marriage breaks down, but the couple do not want a divorce.

This is often the case for religious reasons, where a legal separation agreement is more palatable than a divorce.

However, you don’t have to be religious to opt for a legal separation agreement over a divorce. You might trial a period of separation and reassess your relationship at a later date.

Divide your assets, but not your pensions

A legal separation agreement (sometimes called a judicial separation) allows a couple to live apart without divorcing or ending a civil partnership.

Similar to a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership, a legal separation agreement means that the court may exercise its power to divide your financial assets.

A key difference to divorce is that your pensions are not taken into account in the division of your financial assets.

For that reason, a legal separation agreement may be particularly suited to an older couple who want to preserve the pension provision between them.

Legal Separation agreements

If you have not yet decided whether you want to end your marriage or civil partnership, you can enter into a legal separation agreement instead.

This is a written agreement that can cover some of the practicalities such as:

• What happens to the family home and who continues to live there
• Who pays the mortgage and other outgoings
• What the arrangements for the children should be
• Any other financial arrangements

If you decide to divorce or dissolve your civil partnership later, then the financial arrangements will be considered by a court when determining what final financial orders to make upon divorce or dissolution.

Book in for an initial chat

Please get in touch if you’d like to talk about your separation.

It’s important that you feel comfortable with the lawyer taking on your case, so the initial chat is free and there’s no obligation to take it further.