Separation vs Divorce

Diffen › Relationships

Divorce and separation have different legal status and may also differ in terms of custody of children. A divorce is a court judgment that ends a marriage. A separation is a condition where a couple live apart without getting a divorce. At the time of a divorce and separation, various issues such as custody of children, financial burden, asset control etc. have to be settled between a couple. In a divorce, the court decides these issues while in a separation, the couple agree upon them on their own. Every nation except Malta and Philippines has legal divorce.

Comparison chart

Divorce versus Separation comparison chart
	Divorce	Separation
Issues settled by	Court	Mutually
Duration	Lifelong	On mutual decision
Types	3	3
Legal status	Yes	No (except for in a legal separation)

Legal status

Divorce is the legal termination of a marriage recognized by the appropriate civil court. Separation, on the other hand, is generally not a legally recognized status, as it simply means that a couple has chosen to live apart without legally ending their marriage. However, some states do offer the option of obtaining a legal separation, which allows couples to live apart and financially disentangle without formally divorcing. This can either serve as a temporary arrangement, with the possibility of reconciliation, or as a step towards eventually obtaining a divorce.

Issues settled in a divorce vs separation

Some of the issues that need to be decided in a divorce judgment are:

the grounds (legal reason) for the divorce;
custody of children;
support of children;
visitation with the children;
division of assets (for example, pensions, bank accounts stocks and real estate);
alimony (or support for the spouse);
division of personal property (for example, car or furniture);
who gets to live in the marital home;
division of debts (for example, credit cards or electric bills);
name change; and
possibly, an order for protection from abuse.

In a separation, the couple may decide what issues they want to settle amongst themselves. They may just decide to live apart without settling things like finances and assets. Sometimes, separation is just a transition phase that leads to divorce or a legal separation and hence some issues are not addressed during separation.

Types of divorce and separation

The basic types of divorce's are "Fault" divorce, "no fault" divorce and summary divorce. The first is a condition where various grounds are stated for the divorce and in the second no grounds are stated. A summary divorce is when the couple meets certain criteria and hence is eligible for a divorce. A separation can be mutual separation where a couple just lives apart and a legal separation wherein a couple enter a legal agreement for separation. A third form of separation can be a trial separation where a couple lives apart for a test period, to decide whether or not to separate permanently.

Duration of separation and Permanence of divorce

A divorce is permanent- it makes a marriage void and hence the marriage no longer exists. After a divorce if a couple decides to get back together again then it is a new relationship and a new marriage. A separation does not make a marriage void and a couple might get together again as their marriage has not ended. Hence, a separation may not be life long.