Legal Separation

Helping Spouses Establish Legal Separation

At Lonich & Patton, our family law attorneys represent clients across a broad demographic spectrum, with a wide range of needs and interests. A number of our clients are involved in marriages where communication has broken down and they have grown apart from their spouse. For personal economic, business or religious reasons, however, they may not want their marriage dissolved. Legal separation is an attractive option for these clients.

What Is Legal Separation?

Legal separation is the equivalent of a divorce, except the legal ties that created the marriage remain intact. A legal separation allows spouses to lead separate personal lives while maintaining many of the financial and insurance benefits of marriage. As with divorce, legal separation addresses many of the financial and children issues facing families:

• Property division
• Child custody and visitation
• Child support
• Spousal support
• Business ownership interests

The agreements that comprise the legal separation agreement are often the basis for the divorce settlement, should that later occur. Therefore, it is important to carefully develop legal separation agreements which take into account the future impact of all personal and financial decisions.

Legal separation might be the right option for many people, including people who do not meet California's six-month residency requirement for divorce or who have not been in the United States for at least three months. However, in other cases, seeking an annulment in conjunction with a divorce can accomplish our clients' objectives.

We work closely with our clients seeking legal separation to understand their goals and objectives. Then, we provide legal advice and representation targeted at meeting their goals.

Contact Our San Jose Family Lawyers

If you have any questions about legal separation and would like to talk to an attorney, please contact Lonich & Patton for a free initial consultation. Our attorneys can be reached by phone at (408) 553-0801 or through the intake form on our Contact Us page.

Where We Practice

Lonich & Patton, LLP handles matters for clients in northern California, especially San Jose and Silicon Valley. Our services are available to anyone within the following counties: Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito. For a full listing of areas where we practice, please click here.