REMEMBER THIS

• A legal separation can be an agreement signed by the parties, an order of the court, or both. A legal separation creates legal rights that can be enforced by a court while the divorce is pending. These rights might include child support, alimony, occupancy of the family home, and allocation of time with children.

• All states have some form of no-fault divorce, such as irreconcilable differences or incompatibility. As an alternative, most states (but not all states) have grounds for divorce based on fault, such as mental cruelty, physical cruelty, and adultery.