If you're not sure about ending your marriage, a separation can give you space to figure things out and you can still protect both parties financially with a separation agreement. Some couples may not want to get divorced for religious reasons, but they can still separate.
If you and your spouse need a break from the relationship, one option is to live apart while deciding whether to divorce—a "trial separation." Legally, not much changes during a trial separation—all marital property laws still apply.
If a temporary separation is done in the right way and for the right reasons, and there are clear agreements, it can help couples gain perspective on their relationship and actually strengthen it.
Separated but Still Married
Even if the spouses are living apart, they are still considered married. This has important consequences: they aren't legally allowed to marry someone else. if one doesn't have a will, the other spouse automatically inherits from the one without a will.
There might be several reasons, including minimizing disruption to the lives of the couple's children or financial conditions that may prohibit a couple from moving out on their own. In these cases, a couple may continue to share expenses, and if they have children together, they split child-rearing duties.
Fear. The threat of physical violence, further emotional abuse, harming your children by depriving them of a nuclear family, and concern about how friends and family will perceive them are commonly-cited reasons why people may choose to stay in an unhappy marriage.
While some divorces are necessary, many marriages can be repaired. It may be difficult to face the issues that you and your spouse are struggling with, but research suggests that couples who can manage to stay together usually end up happier down the road than couples who divorce.
If a couple must stay apart, it shouldn't be for more than six months or maximum one year. During this period, conscious and sustained efforts must be made to manage the issues which distance breeds like loneliness, non-frequent sex, lack of emotional and physical support.
Coan advises every couple to adhere to the 70/30 rule: For the happiest, most harmonious relationship, the pro suggests spending 70% of time together, and 30% apart. That gives each of you enough freedom to explore your own interests while still being rooted and invested in your relationship.
A legal separation can be reversed whereas a divorce cannot. If you have young children, you may wish to keep the family together legally for their sake. If you're not 100% sure you want to end your marriage, a legal separation can give you space to figure things out while still protecting you financially.
Length of Separation
The average length of a first separation is three years for those who end up divorcing and two years for those who reunite with their spouse. 80 percent who go through a marital separation ultimately divorce, most within three years.
Coming Together After a Legal Separation
According to U.S. statistics, 87 percent of couples who legally separate eventually get a divorce, while only 13 percent choose to come back together.
Gray (or grey) divorce refers to a divorce involving individuals who are 50 years of age or older. Many high-profile cases, such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, have brought attention to the growing number of gray divorces.
A narcissist will expect to get special treatment and to be able to control everything in the divorce, even the judge. They also don't like to lose, so they will file motions and fight hard to win, even over trivial matters that aren't worth the attorney fees.
It's the opposite of codependency and collapsing on your partner.” Living apart together can make it easier to find breathing space in a relationship, but sustaining a support network, and pursuing outside interests can create the same sense of space and individuation in a cohabiting dynamic.
Statistically, 80% of couples who enter a marital separation end up divorcing. And, on average, they remain separated for three years before finalizing their divorce. On the other hand, 10% of those who separate end up reuniting, on average within two years.
Yes. If you're ready to, you are free to date other people while separated. Your separation agreement is critical though because if the timing of the relationship comes into question during your divorce your relationship may be considered as an affair or adultery.
Parent-child separation has long-term effects on child well-being, even if there is subsequent reunification. After being separated, reunited children can experience difficulty with emotional attachment to their parents, self-esteem, and physical and psychological health.
By studying billions of electronic messages, they worked out that any two strangers are, on average, distanced by precisely 6.6 degrees of separation. In other words, putting fractions to one side, you are linked by a string of seven or fewer acquaintances to Madonna, the Dalai Lama and the Queen.
Children who have suffered traumatic separations from their parents may also display low self-esteem, a general distrust of others, mood disorders (including depression and anxiety), socio-moral immaturity, and inadequate social skills. Regressive behavior, such as bedwetting, is a common response to separation.
A study by Kingston University in the UK found that despite the negative financial impact of divorce on women, they are generally happier than men after divorce.
The study found that on average unhappily married adults who divorced were no happier than unhappily married adults who stayed married when rated on any of 12 separate measures of psychological well-being. Divorce did not typically reduce symptoms of depression, raise self-esteem, or increase a sense of mastery.