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Term Definition Legal Separation; Separate Support; Separate Maintenance - a legal lawsuit for support while the spouses are living separate and apart.
Application in Divorce In general, a married couple separate in one of three ways: on a basis, where they live apart until they decided what to do; permanently, where they live apart with intent of a divorce; and legally, which is similar to a divorce.

The legal rights of the spouse who acquired them. By comparison, a person who is legally separated is married in name only.

Some states permit a couple to legally separate, and some require a divorce.

People choose this route over divorce, which ends a marriage, because of religious beliefs, personal values (the desire to keep a family together if only in name) or practical considerations, such as medical insurance that would be lost if the couple divorced.

Some separation.

A visitation.

Couples who separate this way not longer file joint income tax returns.

Spouses who have a legal separation are still married, if only in name; they are not free to marry for this reason.

See Judicial Separation; Divorce A Mensa Thoro.

Compare A Vinculo Matrimonii.