How to Go From a Legal Separation to a Legal Divorce in Missouri
Legal separation is often chosen by couples as an alternative to divorce for religious reasons, to preserve a spouse's health insurance, or to protect the assets of both spouses while they attempt to reconcile. If one or both spouses decide to pursue a divorce in Missouri, they must meet the residency requirements and be able to prove grounds for divorce in accordance with state law.
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Instructions
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Contact your attorney as soon as you have decided to divorce (or your spouse has told you that he or she plans to file for divorce). While Missouri law does not require that your financial settlement from your separation become your divorce settlement, judges are inclined to use your separation settlement as your divorce settlement, according to both the "American Bar Association Guide to Marriage, Divorce, and Families" and attorney Aaron Larson in his article "Legal Separation and Separate Maintenance." If your separation settlement is not working for you, or if your spouse has some items in her possession that you want for yourself, your lawyer will need to get to work on a new settlement.
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Make sure you have grounds for divorce in Missouri. While Missouri is a no-fault divorce state, and the only ground for divorce is that the marriage is "irretrievably broken," it is up to the petitioner or jointly petitioning spouses to prove that this is actually the case. Proofs that a marriage is irretrievably broken are: adultery, abandonment for at least six months, mutually-agreed-upon separation for 12 months, separation for 24 months, or behavior that makes it impossible for one spouse to live with the other.
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File for divorce in the county where either you or your spouse resides (Missouri requires that one of you be a Missouri resident for at least 90 days prior to filing your divorce case). If both you and your spouse are in agreement on the divorce, you also have the option of filing a joint petition for dissolution of marriage together.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are considering legal separation from your spouse, make sure that your financial settlement is something that you will be able to live with if you end up divorcing. Even if you don't plan to divorce, your spouse may surprise you, and you may end up stuck with your separation settlement as your divorce settlement.
References
- Photo Credit separated image by Andrei Merkulov from Fotolia.com
