Separation and divorce are two distinct terms that often are incorrectly employed interchangeably. While both separation and divorce apply to situations in which married couples seek to sever their relationships, each term specifies a distinctive set of conditions that accompany the split between former spouses.
San Diego Divorce
In San Diego, divorce is a legislatively created process that is either judicially administered or settled by San Diego divorce mediation, negotiation, or collaboration by the representative San Diego divorce attorney hired by each spouse. The goal of divorce is to end a marital relationship and restore the parties to single status. As a result, the court issues orders for the custody and visitation rights of minor children of the marriage, child and spousal support, and the division of property assets and debts.
The ability of the spouses to agree upon these conditions of the dissolution of marriage determines the type of divorce they will have and the processes that will be required to grant the divorce decree.
In a contested divorce, the parties cannot reach an agreement on one or multiple divorce-related issues and often require litigation aided by San Diego divorce lawyers and court-ordered rulings to make ultimate decisions. An uncontested divorce occurs in San Diego when the spouses agree on all divorce-related issues and can settle these issues in the absence of litigation. In this type of divorce, the process is often expedited and the costs incurred by each party are much lower than they would be in the case of litigation.
San Diego separation
In San Diego, separation can be filed by a married person who wishes to physically separate from their spouse and resolve all marital issues while still maintaining their marital status with their spouse, which is the major factor differentiating separation from divorce. The court will still issue orders on child custody and visitation, child and spousal support, and the division of property assets and debts. If the other spouse responds to the paperwork for legal separation requesting dissolution of marriage, the court will grant the dissolution of marriage and the single status will be restored.