What is the legal and practical differences between divorce and
seperation.  My wife and I have decided to end our 16 year "marriage"
but wish to continue our family partnership raising our two children. 
We intend to maintain our existing home, finances and
responsibilities.  We totally trust eachother.  We were discussing the
benefits of maintaining our legal married status with a legal
Seperation Agreement

Dear jim1342-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. We
can?t provide legal advice in this forum but I can point out some
legal definitions for you that will answer your question nicely.

A divorce is defined as a legal dissolution of a marriage by the
court. Such dissolution also ends many of the marital benefits that
couples are legally entitled to by virtue of their marital union.
GOOGLE
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=define%3ADIVORCE

A legal separation, on the other hand, is a court order establishing
the terms of custody, support, etc. under which a married couple will
live separately.
GOOGLE
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&oi=defmore&defl=en&q=define:LEGAL+SEPARATION

Indeed a legal separation may be appropriate for some couples that
wish to live separately while maintaining many of the marital rights
afforded them.
(See one of my previous answers for a list of marital benefits that
may continue to be applicable in a legal separation, depending on your
agreement and your state?s laws.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=599104). 

A legal separation legal provides for maintenance, child custody, and
support, but does not provide for equitable distribution of marital
property. In other words, for all intents and purposes the couple
continues to equally own the marital property and assets and continues
to enjoy the benefits thereof to the extent they are formally
agreeable. Likewise such an arrangement may, in some instances, limit
one or both party?s access to some or all of the marital property and
assets as agreed to in the order. A judgment of separation does not
dissolve the marriage and does not allow the parties to remarry. A
judgment of separation however does not dissolve the marriage and does
not allow the parties to remarry.

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Divorce

Legal separation

Benefits

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Request for Answer Clarification by jim1342-ga on 17 Jan 2006 14:17 PST

Thanks for your answer, however, several questions remain.  What are
the differences other than legal marriage implications?  Are there
Pros and Cons (mabe a "T-Account comparison?  Which is better for
taxes?  What are stats on % of legal seperations that eventually
become legal divorces & vice versa.  What are the implications for
children when comparing divorce to seperation.

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Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 17 Jan 2006 16:58 PST

It would be in your best interest to consult a tax attorney about your
tax concerns and a licensed financial advisor about your investment
concerns. As for the statistics you requested you might consider
posting that as a separate question. Originally you requested
information about the ?legal and practical differences between divorce
and separation? but your clarification requests asks for information
concerning ?differences other than legal marriage implications? ?
which is an entirely different matter indeed. I have provided the
information you originally asked for as best I can but (and I tread
cautiously and respectfully here) your clarification request seems to
exceed both scope and price of your original question. Perhaps in a
separate follow-up question another researcher who is familiar with
such statistics would be willing to do that researcher for you.

Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga

With a divorce, you are free to marry someone else. Or each other
again (it happens).

One practical reason that people choose legal separation over divorce
is for health insurance purposes - especially if there are
pre-existing conditions that could make it hard to gain individual
coverage.

Keep in mind that living separate and apart for more than one year is
grounds for a divorce in many places, and that a court may look back
to the time of separation when making decisions about the fair
division of property.  Definitely get court orders about bills and
such (who is responsible for what).

Finally one interesting fact I feel compelled to add is that most of
the criminals in jail today have one thing in common - an absent
parent from the home.

Good job, nkamom. That connection between jail and missing parent
seems to be such a secret, though those connected with jails all know
it.  We only hear that if men would pay more money, all would be well.
But, I am old enough to remember when a Kennedy got divorced, and
shortly after, one of his sons was in big trouble with the law, and
there was no shortage of money.