Getting Divorced But Still Living Together : California Divorce : Divorce661
Many of our clients are getting divorced and are still living together. When people call about our services and tell me this, sometimes they think that they cannot still be living together to get divorced or that their situation is different because they have not actually, physically separated yet.
First of all, there is no requirement in California that you be physically separated for any period of time prior to filing for divorce, like some States.
So when you go to file for divorce and are still living together, the question becomes, what date of separation do you use if you are still living together.
When people are still living together and getting a divorce and I ask them what their date of separation is, they usually say “there isn’t one” or “we are not separated, we are still living together”.
So in these cases, what date of separation should you use when filing your divorce Petition. Because you will have to have a date of separation listed on the Petition when you go to file your California divorce case.
If you are getting a divorce but still living together you can use one of a few different dates of separation.
First, you could use a date in the past that perhaps you and your spouse discussed getting a divorce. Maybe you had a big sit down and discussion and talked out the details of your divorce or simply talked and the two of you agreed it would be best to get a divorce. You could use this date if this is the case.
Second, maybe there was a change in your living situation. Let’s say one of you started living in the spare bedroom or perhaps started sleeping on the couch or even started staying at a friends house a few days a week. This would certainly show that something is going on and perhaps a date surrounding what led up to changing your sleeping arrangement would be an appropriate date of separation.
Third, if you have no other date in mind, and this is what we do most of the time, is we simply use the date of the filing of the divorce petition as the date of separation.
Again, you need to have a date of separation listed on the divorce petition. So while you are not physically separated, you would at least use the date of filing or signing of the petition as the date of separation.