Arizona Legal Separation Laws

What Happens if I File for Legal Separation, but My Spouse Files for Divorce…

Erik Bergstrom

 

Phoenix Legal Separation & Divorce

The court can only grant a decree of legal separation if it finds that one (1), both parties desire to live separate and apart and two (2), neither party objects to the legal separation. If either party objects to the legal separation, the court will convert the case into a divorce, or dissolution of marriage.

So, if you file for legal separation and your spouse does not agree and instead files for divorce, the court cannot grant a legal separation and the case will be processed as a dissolution of marriage. Other than religious grounds, there are usually not strong legal reasons for pursuing a legal separation instead of a divorce. If you would like more information about the difference between a legal separation and a divorce, please contact me.

By: Attorney Erik Bergstrom

Phoenix Legal Separation & Divorce

The court can only grant a decree of legal separation if it finds that one (1), both parties desire to live separate and apart and two (2), neither party objects to the legal separation. If either party objects to the legal separation, the court will convert the case into a divorce, or dissolution of marriage.

So, if you file for legal separation and your spouse does not agree and instead files for divorce, the court cannot grant a legal separation and the case will be processed as a dissolution of marriage. Other than religious grounds, there are usually not strong legal reasons for pursuing a legal separation instead of a divorce. If you would like more information about the difference between a legal separation and a divorce, please contact me.

By: Attorney Erik Bergstrom

How Long Does a Legal Separation Take | Arizona

Michael Clancy

 

Legal separation can take a number of months. It can actually take longer than that, but the minimum time in Arizona is sixty days, which is the exact same as a divorce. So, if you were hoping for a quicker disposition of your legal separation, unfortunately you are not able to do that any faster than you would a divorce. But, that’s not the only reason to consider a legal separation. Each case is different. Each case is unique and we’d love the opportunity to talk about that with you. If you’d like more information, contact me.

By: Attorney Michael Clancy

Legal separation can take a number of months. It can actually take longer than that, but the minimum time in Arizona is sixty days, which is the exact same as a divorce. So, if you were hoping for a quicker disposition of your legal separation, unfortunately you are not able to do that any faster than you would a divorce. But, that’s not the only reason to consider a legal separation. Each case is different. Each case is unique and we’d love the opportunity to talk about that with you. If you’d like more information, contact me.

By: Attorney Michael Clancy

How Do I Start a Legal Separation | Arizona

Kip Micuda

 

A legal separation is started much the same way that a dissolution of marriage is started. Either require a petition. The petition in each instance is rather cryptic and simple. There are also documents that attend the petition. There’s a document as to creditors, a document as to health insurance, and a document as to preliminary injunction that applies to both parties once the petition is filed. The process is very simple to start. If you have any questions about filing a legal separation, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Hildebrand Law. The phone number is (480) 305-8300. Thank you.

To start a legal separation, please contact an Arizona legal separation attorney.

By: Attorney Kip Micuda

A legal separation is started much the same way that a dissolution of marriage is started. Either require a petition. The petition in each instance is rather cryptic and simple. There are also documents that attend the petition. There’s a document as to creditors, a document as to health insurance, and a document as to preliminary injunction that applies to both parties once the petition is filed. The process is very simple to start. If you have any questions about filing a legal separation, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Hildebrand Law. The phone number is (480) 305-8300. Thank you.

To start a legal separation, please contact an Arizona legal separation attorney.

By: Attorney Kip Micuda

What Should I Expect During the First Meeting With My Divorce Attorney | Arizona

Mitchell Reichman

 

Hi, I’m Mitch Reichman. I’m a board certified family law specialist and I practice at Jaburg and Wilk.

How can I make the most of my first meeting?

The way a client can make the most of their first meeting with me is to be organized and to bring me basic general information. So I want a simple statement of their assets and their liabilities. I’d like to see the most recent three years of tax returns. And I recommend the client bring notes. At least bullet points of the topics the client would like to cover in that first meeting.

Should I bring all of my records to the first meeting?

I don’t ask them to bring a lot of documents to the first meeting. We’re going to follow up and gather a lot of documents during the process. Certainly I would not want the to bring a box of records to the meeting. It would be very inefficient, very expensive for the client for me to be thumbing through a box of records in that first meeting.

What information are you looking for initially?

We’re looking for broad strokes of information. We want to identify in that first meeting what the assets are and what the liabilities are. To find out about their children. To know about income and expenses. To see if someone is going to be needing spousal maintenance for example. So just broadly identify the topics we’re going to need to address. We’re going to gather a lot of details along the way, but that wouldn’t be a useful way to spend our time the first meeting.

By: Mitchell Reichman

Hi, I’m Mitch Reichman. I’m a board certified family law specialist and I practice at Jaburg and Wilk.

How can I make the most of my first meeting?

The way a client can make the most of their first meeting with me is to be organized and to bring me basic general information. So I want a simple statement of their assets and their liabilities. I’d like to see the most recent three years of tax returns. And I recommend the client bring notes. At least bullet points of the topics the client would like to cover in that first meeting.

Should I bring all of my records to the first meeting?

I don’t ask them to bring a lot of documents to the first meeting. We’re going to follow up and gather a lot of documents during the process. Certainly I would not want the to bring a box of records to the meeting. It would be very inefficient, very expensive for the client for me to be thumbing through a box of records in that first meeting.

What information are you looking for initially?

We’re looking for broad strokes of information. We want to identify in that first meeting what the assets are and what the liabilities are. To find out about their children. To know about income and expenses. To see if someone is going to be needing spousal maintenance for example. So just broadly identify the topics we’re going to need to address. We’re going to gather a lot of details along the way, but that wouldn’t be a useful way to spend our time the first meeting.

By: Mitchell Reichman

What's the Difference Between a Divorce and Legal Separation | Scottsdale Legal Separation

Chris Hildebrand

 

Divorce vs Legal Separation

Hello, I want to speak to you today about the difference between a divorce and legal separation in the state of Arizona. In actuality, there are very few differences between the two and in both cases the court is going to divide your assets, divide the community debts, enter orders for custody of the children, order child support, if appropriate in both cases, the court will order alimony, or what we refer to as spousal maintenance.

The only difference between a legal separation and a divorce then is, the spouses are not returned to the status of being single people and are not free to remarry. If you have any other questions regarding the differences between a divorce and a legal separation, please feel free to contact me.

By: Chris Hildebrand

Divorce vs Legal Separation

Hello, I want to speak to you today about the difference between a divorce and legal separation in the state of Arizona. In actuality, there are very few differences between the two and in both cases the court is going to divide your assets, divide the community debts, enter orders for custody of the children, order child support, if appropriate in both cases, the court will order alimony, or what we refer to as spousal maintenance.

The only difference between a legal separation and a divorce then is, the spouses are not returned to the status of being single people and are not free to remarry. If you have any other questions regarding the differences between a divorce and a legal separation, please feel free to contact me.

By: Chris Hildebrand

Sole & Separate Home & Business Divorce Case | Arizona Family Law

Laurence B. Hirsch

 

Separate Business in Divorce Case

Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practice exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. Arizona has a case called [?], and that case has allowed the spouse that doesn’t own the business to actually have an interest in the appreciation and value of that business during the course of the marriage. What we’re looking at is labor, toil, and efforts of the community. Best way to think about this is, if I have a sole and separate business and I’m actually doing something to help that business, my spouse may have a claim to my sole and separate property.

Separate Home in Divorce Case

This same situation can occur with separate property homes. So let’s say that you get married, and you have a house that’s worth $500,000. Your community earnings bought the new pool, the new landscaping, and put in the addition, and when you file for divorce that house is worth $1.5 million, so you’ve got $1,000,000 of appreciation during the marriage. Is it fair that the spouse who owned the house coming into the marriage receives all $1,000,000 of appreciation? The courts in Arizona don’t typically think so. So those are two situations where your sole and separate property is not necessarily 100% your sole and separate property. Always be wary that there may be what we call a community lien on your separate property.

By: Laurence B. Hirsch

Separate Business in Divorce Case

Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practice exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. Arizona has a case called [?], and that case has allowed the spouse that doesn’t own the business to actually have an interest in the appreciation and value of that business during the course of the marriage. What we’re looking at is labor, toil, and efforts of the community. Best way to think about this is, if I have a sole and separate business and I’m actually doing something to help that business, my spouse may have a claim to my sole and separate property.

Separate Home in Divorce Case

This same situation can occur with separate property homes. So let’s say that you get married, and you have a house that’s worth $500,000. Your community earnings bought the new pool, the new landscaping, and put in the addition, and when you file for divorce that house is worth $1.5 million, so you’ve got $1,000,000 of appreciation during the marriage. Is it fair that the spouse who owned the house coming into the marriage receives all $1,000,000 of appreciation? The courts in Arizona don’t typically think so. So those are two situations where your sole and separate property is not necessarily 100% your sole and separate property. Always be wary that there may be what we call a community lien on your separate property.

By: Laurence B. Hirsch

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