Families affected by divorce may suffer financially and emotionally. Alternatives to divorce, such as legal separation, conscious uncoupling and annulment, may reduce the fallout for everyone involved. The most common way to end a marriage is with a divorce. However, other legal options exist to help couples sever their marital ties.
Divorce
Divorce is the only way to end your marriage legally (except for annulment, which treats your wedding as if it never happened). A divorce dissolves your marriage and grants you a court-ordered decree establishing how to divide property, assets and debt, alimony, and child custody. The process for obtaining a divorce differs by state. Take, for instance, in Texas, specifically in Katy. You must work with a Katy divorce lawyer to promptly complete and file the proper paperwork. Adultery, cruelty, or insanity are a few examples of fault grounds for divorce. However, the no-fault ground of irreconcilable differences is more common. Fault grounds require that you can prove your spouse committed specific wrongdoing. For example, if you are filing for a divorce on the grounds of desertion, you must verify that your spouse left you a year ago and hasn’t returned. Other fault grounds include a finding of mental illness or insanity, which typically requires the testimony of two specialty doctors.
Legal Separation
An alternative to divorce is a legal separation. In states that recognize it, a couple may file for a legally binding separation for a specific period to work through issues like finances, custody and property. During this time, spouses can agree to terms like spousal support, child custody, visitation, and living arrangements. They must also agree on the division of assets and debts. Due to their morals or the desire to leave the door open for remarriage, some couples elect a legal separation over a divorce. They can still get health insurance through their spouse and file taxes jointly. A legal separation can also help preserve a spouse’s rights in case they are to die while separated. It is because a married couple retains next-of-kin decision-making rights in most states, whereas divorcing spouses lose those rights. Additionally, a separated spouse is not responsible for new debt that the other spouse incurs after they are legally separated.
Annulment
Your marriage will be deemed unlawful and unenforceable through the legal process of an annulment under both secular and religious laws. Unlike divorce, it is retroactive. Children born in an annulled marriage are considered legitimate. Generally, several grounds for an annulment vary state by state but include bigamy (being married to another person at the time of your nuptials), incest, fraud, lack of capacity or physical intimacy, and more. If you have children with your husband, you must submit both an annulment and a suit affecting the parent-child relationship (SAPCR). The court can then address child custody, visitation, and support as much as it would with a traditional divorce. In an annulled marriage, property and finances are treated differently. The judge will determine what each party is entitled to based on their financial situation before the wedding. Neither party is usually awarded spousal support in an annulled marriage.
Declaration of Nullity
Like a divorce, a declaration of nullity can be based on several grounds. Most often, people seek a declaration of nullity when the marriage is invalid by Church law because one or both parties lacked consent. The Church defines “consent” as freely and intelligently given, implying that the people entering the marriage understood what they were doing. The nullity process takes 12 to 18 months and requires the testimony of experts in areas such as psychology and psychiatry. It is important to understand that a declaration of nullity does not deny that there was ever a wedding ceremony. Rather, it merely states that the relationship fell short of one or more of the Church’s elements for a valid marriage. A Church decree of nullity has no impact on civil issues such as alimony, child custody and property division.
