Key Tips for Making a Legal Separation Work

A legal separation can be a good way to transition into your new life as a divorced couple. However, it’s important to have some strict ground rules in place to make sure that the separation is actually an effective, beneficial one.

With this in mind, here are some tips for making a legal separation work:

• Treat your relationship as a business partnership: Be polite and professional, answering all emails, text messages and phone calls. Do not badmouth your spouse to anyone, especially not to your children or on social media. Follow through on providing documentation and important information, and be a model of exemplary conduct. You do not need to have much communication beyond important logistics, but when you do speak, make sure you do so congenially.
• Do not make any major changes: Do not spend any more money than you otherwise would, especially without the consent of your partner — you are still technically married. Continue to pay for all the bills you have, and try to keep your routines as consistent as possible. Keep the children in the family home, unless there is a major safety concern.
• Discuss the pathways to divorce you could take: Read up on mediation, arbitration and collaborative divorce, and determine if any of these options will work for you, as well as what the pros and cons of each are. If you can find an option you both will feel comfortable with, that’s the best route to proceed moving forward.
• See a counselor: Separation can be emotionally devastating, because it’s really the first big step of a divorce process for many people. To deal with the stress and emotions you are feeling, you should strongly consider seeing a counselor or therapist to get the help you need to make it through the process.

To learn more about legal separations and steps you should take, meet with a skilled Long Island family law attorney at Bryan L. Salamone & Associates.