How to Write Marriage Separation Papers
- 1). Make a list of all of your debts. Like most married couples in the 21st century you likely have amassed at least some debt. Unless you sit down and make a complete list of that debt you may not realize precisely what you and your spouse owe at this time. You need to separate any debt that you or your spouse may have acquired independently before the marriage.
- 2). Determine who will be responsible for which of the marital debts you have itemized. Those debts that existed before the marriage follow the person who incurred them initially.
- 3). Develop a similar list of all of your major assets--cars, home, bank accounts, investments and so forth. As with debts, if there are any assets either you or your spouse owned independently before the start of the marriage, separate them from your list of what are known as "marital assets."
- 4). Determine how you will fairly allocate the assets of the marriage between you and your spouse. Legally, any assets that were brought into the marriage stay with the party who owned them previously.
- 5). Agree whether you or your spouse will reside in the marital residence, the house that you have been living in up until this time. In most cases, the parent that is primary custodian of the children (the parent who will have the children in his or her more of the time) is the person who most logically will remain in the home.
- 6). Decide how you will deal with any children born during the marriage. The two primary considerations you need to contemplate in this regard are custody and parenting time or visitation. (Many jurisdictions have moved to the concept of parenting time as opposed to what traditionally was called visitation. The theory is that no parent should be identified as being merely a visitor in the lives of his or her children.)
- 7). Determine child support issues after a decision is made as to where the children will live on a primary basis. Every state has developed a set of child support guidelines. You can access these guidelines through the Internet. Additionally, your local court clerk's office likely can provide you with these guidelines as well (keeping in mind that they cannot provide you with any legal advice or guidance).
- 8). Discuss with your spouse the issue of maintenance or alimony. Depending on your particular financial circumstances, and the financial arrangements that have been in place during the marriage--for example, one spouse working and the other remaining at home to care for children--maintenance or alimony may be appropriate. Most states also have a set of guidelines pertaining to maintenance and alimony that you can also access either online or through the local court clerk's office.
- 9). Commit the agreement reached on these various factors to a written document. Do not make the separation papers any more complicated than necessary. Plainly set forth how you and your spouse have agreed to deal with these elements.
- 10
Sign the agreement (your spouse doing the same) in front of a Notary Public.
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