Judicial Separation

What happens if your marriage is a terrible mistake
and you want to separate before your 1 st anniversary?

Believe it or not, quite a number of marriages never even make it to their 1 st anniversary.

Usually one or the other party realises that they’ve made a terrible mistake and the hearts and flowers quickly turn to tears and tantrums.

But given that you can only apply for divorce a minimum of one year after marriage, what do you do if after only six months you can’t bear the sight of your spouse any longer or the love has turned to violence?

Well, the answer may be a Judicial Separation.

What’s a Judicial Separation?
Either party  to a marriage that is less than 12 months old can apply to the Court  for a  Judicial Separation on the same grounds as a divorce petition (as outlined in the separate guide to divorce proceedings on our website).

However, a Judicial Separation will not bring the marriage to an end and a petition for divorce will still be needed at a later stage if you still want to end the marriage.

The effect of a Judicial Separation is that you are no longer bound to cohabit.  In addition, if either of you dies without having made a will, the deceased’s estate will pass as if the other party to the marriage had already died. 

But if the deceased has made a will, the Judicial Separation will not affect the provisions under the will. This means that if property is left to a spouse, that spouse will still benefit despite the Judicial Separation.

Does Judicial Separation offer anything else?
There are certain situations in which a Judicial Separation may have advantages over divorce:-

1. A petition for Judicial Separation can be presented within the first year of marriage when divorce is not allowed

2. Where one party objects to a divorce on religious grounds they can petition for a Judicial Separation.

3. Some people are not ready for divorce and find a Judicial Separation less stressful. It is also a means for them to deal with the distribution of the assets of the marriage.

4. The court has power to make orders for sale of the matrimonial home or transfer specific assets from one party to another.

5. As the marriage is not brought to an end, if one party has a pension with death benefits, as a spouse the other party may still benefit. They may also be entitled to the widow/widower’s pension.

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