Are you looking at filing for a legal separation in Colorado? You have come to the right place. This in-depth guide will dissect every aspect of legal separation in Colorado.
We will cover what legal separation is and what it entails in Colorado, as well as other key topics such as how to file for it, what are the benefits and disadvantages, how does it differ from a divorce, what are the costs involved, what duration you are looking at, and whether or not you need an attorney.
We will also touch upon related topics such as trial separation in Colorado, preparing settlement agreements, and the child custody arrangements possible in legal separation in Colorado.
A legal separation in Colorado means dividing assets and living separately. Any spouse can file for a legal separation. You effectively become unmarried during the term of your legal separation. However, your marriage does not officially end, preventing you from remarrying while you are in legal separation from your spouse.
Note that a legal separation involves a court. It is different from a trial separation which is based on mutual understanding.
Filing for a legal separation in Colorado follows pretty much the same process as filing for a divorce. Note that the eligibility requirements state that at least one of the spouses must be a resident of Colorado for at least 91 days.
Either spouse can file for a legal separation even if either one of the two has been a resident of Colorado for at least 91 days.
If you meet this eligibility criterion, the next step is filing a petition or request for legal separation with the court.
Couples might opt to choose a legal separation vs. a divorce for several reasons. Primary among them are:
Mostly, couples file for a legal separation for getting benefits that only married couples can get while not wanting to live with each other as a fully married couple anymore.
However, many married individuals also look at legal separation as a means to simply take time apart from their spouse. It would make more sense to go with a trial separation in this case, but a legal separation has a set of benefits such as more accurate and legally-binding financial assets division, child support and custody arrangements, spousal support arrangements, and so on.
Legal separation also has a couple of glaring downsides that you should be aware of.
Divorce allows you to remarry while also allowing the court to do a more forceful and fair division of all assets, including financial products and insurance. This is not the case in a legal separation.
In a legal separation, the considerations of financial assets division, child custody, and support, as well as spousal support, are brought up, but they largely depend on what the partners want. Consequently, there is a chance that things might be in favor of one party more than the other.
But there is no problem as long as both parties get the agreement drafted and checked properly by their respective attorneys.
In fact, in many cases, legal separation is actually better because it allows you to live apart and get all the benefits without having to end your marriage.
It all depends on your particular situation.
As per the domestic relations fees in the district courts of Colorado, the cost of filing a petition for legal separation is $230. It's the same as the cost of a dissolution of marriage. An additional petition to prevent the removal of a child will cost $235.
A family lawyer usually bills at $150-$250 per hour. Specialists can easily charge upward of $500 per hour, but you will not need a specialist unless your case is particularly complex. Getdivorcepapers provides a much lower price and charges only $139.
Though you can do this without an attorney, it is highly recommended that you go with an attorney so that the agreement has no loopholes or slip-ups that you will lament later. It is possible to file for an edit in the original agreement, but it costs money and time – a hassle you should rather completely avoid.
A legal separation can take anywhere from three months (the fastest and simplest of cases) to 12 months (the most complex cases).
Most likely, you are not going to be on either extreme, so you are looking at an average time of 6 months.
Legal separation is indeed used as a way to circumvent the loss of shared insurance and other benefits that comes with divorces. However, it is also true that the majority of health insurance plans will not work for you in the case of a legal separation.
This is because you are no longer considered a dependent of your spouse for health insurance coverage once you have legally separated.
Not all health insurance plans treat a legal separation the same as a dissolution of marriage. And this means that such health insurance policies will let the spouse remain on insurance even during a legal separation.
Whether or not your health plan considers legal separation the same as dissolution of marriage is something you have to check with your insurance provider. If they do not, then you can stay on the same health insurance while legally separated, as these plans only consider divorces as a true dissolution of marriage.
What is trial separation? A trial separation is a mutually agreed-upon arrangement where both spouses decide to live apart. This does not require a court order or any court petition. Neither do you need an attorney for this in most of the cases? You can decide how assets will be split as well as considerations regarding child custody, child support, and spousal support.
Technically, you don't. But you are highly recommended to get an attorney or a professional company like Getdivorcepapers.com to file your legal separation. The reason is that if you draft your own legal separation agreement, then there is a good chance that you will leave a loophole or slip-up, which can later be exploited. Sometimes, it can also cause problems unintentionally.
Having a professional company draft an agreement or at least go through the agreement is a great idea in most cases, and that is why you are recommended to get an attorney.
A settlement agreement is a document that proves dispute resolution between two or more parties. It binds the parties to a settlement and ensures everyone involved adheres to the terms and conditions specified. These terms and conditions are achieved as a result of negotiations.
Preparing a settlement agreement is best left to the professionals. Law firms, lawyers, or attorneys are the best people to chalk out the perfect settlement agreement for your needs.
Getdivorcepapers.com specializes in preparing Colorado settlement agreements in only three steps.
Child custody will be decided during the legal separation agreement. If you are drafting your legal separation document yourself, then you need to make sure that there are no loopholes or mistakes. If that happens, then there will be a lot of problems later on.
Child custody and support have to be decided carefully, and it is best to get an attorney involved for both parties involved. Without an attorney, you are bound to run into problems in the future.
Both child custody and child support are critical considerations in all types of separation, including trial separations, legal separations, as well as divorces. It makes sense to go to a professional for this.
A good legal separation agreement will also include provisions in case one spouse fails to pay for child support. That's one of the best benefits of a legal separation over a trial separation – you can get the court involved in case there is a lapse in payment.
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