legal separation

legal separation n. a court-decreed right to live apart, with the rights and obligations of divorced persons, but without divorce. The parties are still married and cannot remarry. A spouse may petition for a legal separation usually on the same basis as for a divorce, and include requests for child custody, alimony, child support and division of property. For people who want to avoid the supposed stigma of divorce, who hold strong religious objections to divorce, or hope to save a marriage, legal separation is an apparent solution. With more states allowing no-fault divorce, the use of separation agreements, and informal separation, legal separation is rarely used.