What Happens During the One-Year Separation in North Carolina?

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The one year separation isn't just down time. It matters legally. Hi, my name is Charles Ohman. A lot of times I'm asked what happens during the one year of separation before you can file for a divorce.

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During that time period, you're frequently discussing the settlement terms between you and your spouse. Ideally, you have already talked about this in great substance before you separated, but during the time period that you're separated for one year in a day, we're working on identifying property issues, child support issues, working through custody, think how the children do during the separation and ultimately trying to find a legal framework and something that's legally binding for you and your spouse.

What can I do during the separation period? Most of the time I'm asked that question, it means could I date someone, a kid? The answer to that question depends on a lot of things. The first thing that I would want to know is, is this someone that you were involved with prior to the separation? If so, our advice will be to not have contact with that person.

That's both for legal reasons and for practical reasons. Frequently, dating after separation can be a problem. The problem is more of a practical problem than a legal problem, because your spouse is still trying to understand and process through the separation. The other part would be if the person that you're seeing has some type of issue that your spouse disapproves of, that could be substance abuse.

A past history with violence or drugs. We always want to look for things that we can avoid in custody cases after the data separation that are caused by seeing someone else. When does a one year of separation start? It starts as soon as you have one roof over your head, and your spouse has another roof over their head at night.

So you're sleeping in one residence and they're sleeping in another, and that continues on for a period of time to where you are separated. Should I wait to speak to an attorney? Frequently, we prefer that people come in just before separation for shortly thereafter. We like to be able to assess the situation, develop a plan of action for your case, and make sure that we're both on the same page about how the negotiations will proceed.

So if you separated and are wondering, should I come in and speak to an attorney? I would say that is a good idea and that you should call our office and schedule a time to sit down and talk with myself or one of the other attorneys at the office. We look forward to helping you.