Legal Separation Lawyer Dallas, TX 
Married couples who want to separate for a designated period of time may turn to a legal separation lawyer in Dallas, TX at Brandy Austin Law Firm, PLLC. for assistance. When two people decide they want to be divorced, they normally file a petition to the court and then go through the steps towards finalization. However, some couples aren’t ready for such a big decision and just want to be apart until they figure things out. Separation agreements do happen, but most of the time, they are simply unnecessary. With rare exceptions, being separated is not actually a legal status.
Trial Separation
When most couples separate, they simply decide not to live together anymore. One spouse may move out, in which marital perks like intimacy and cooperative decision making may cease. As a TX legal separation lawyer in Dallas may tell you, this arrangement is not a legal status. In the eyes of the law, most couples that are separated are still legally married, with all the positives and negatives of that status attached.
Trial separations are usually the last resort a couple tries before agreeing to divorce. Many couples live apart for weeks or months and then may be able to work out issues exacerbated by too long in proximity. Very often, couples that try a separation do work out an agreement, but it is informal and not to be confused with a legal separation or a divorce decree. Any written agreement is a sort of unofficial primer for the spouses to abide by, reminding them to reevaluate their situation within a certain amount of time.
If you are working on establishing a trial separation agreement with your current spouse, we suggest getting advice from a Dallas legal separation lawyer in TX.
Legal Separation
In Texas, legal separations do exist. However, they are used primarily in a strategic fashion if it is believed that a divorce case will drag on. They are conducted in an almost identical manner to divorce cases, following the same law and the same procedure. The basic difference is that the parties in a legal separation may not marry anyone else, and are only permitted to marry once the divorce is final.
Most of the time, legal separations are pursued instead of divorces (or to later be converted into divorces) for financial reasons. For example, a tax bill will be different for divorced spouses than for those who are still married. If a divorce is going to go on for a long time (due to complexity or ugliness), it may be a financial gain to declare legal separation first. Some people will also obtain legal separations if their religion forbids divorce, so at least their property will no longer be commingled, but these people are the minority.
State Laws Vary
A TX legal separation lawyer is aware that each state sets its own laws regarding residency requirements in order to be able to file for a legal separation. The same is true regarding child custody arrangements within the legal separation. However, child custody determinations can usually only be part of a legal separation if the children have lived in the state for six months or longer. Property determinations (disposition of the marital assets) are conducted generally in the same manner as in a divorce, but spouses must ask the court to conduct the division as it will not do so unilaterally.
A Dallas, TX legal separation lawyer at Brandy Austin Law Firm, PLLC. can help ensure your affairs are in order, no matter what may be required — so please contact our offices today for a free initial consultation.
