What forms would my wife and I need for a legal seperation?
Full Question:
My wife and I have agreed that at this time in our relationship it would be best that we acquire a legal separation. This will be an amiable separation where we already have a meeting of the minds and now require a legal document that meets with the requirements of the state of Tennessee. We want something that we can file ourselves. Can you help us select the best form for our situation?
11/10/2007 |
Category: Divorce ยป Legal Separa... |
State: Tennessee |
#12005
Answer:
The following are Tennessee statutes:
36-4-102. Legal separation.
(a) A party who alleges grounds for divorce from the bonds of matrimony
may, as an alternative to filing a complaint for divorce, file a
complaint for legal separation. Such complaint shall set forth the
grounds for legal separation in substantially the language of § 36-4-101
and pray only for legal separation or for such other and further relief
to which complainant may think to be entitled. The other party may deny
the existence of grounds for divorce but, unless the other party
specifically objects to the granting of an order of legal separation, the
court shall declare the parties to be legally separated.
(b) If the other party specifically objects to legal separation, the
court may, after a hearing, grant an order of legal separation,
notwithstanding such objections if grounds are established pursuant to §
36-4-101. The court also has the power to grant an absolute divorce to
either party where there has been an order of legal separation for more
than two (2) years upon a petition being filed by either party that sets
forth the original order for legal separation and that the parties have
not become reconciled. The court granting the divorce shall make a final
and complete adjudication of the support and property rights of the
parties. However, nothing in this subsection (b) shall preclude the court
from granting an absolute divorce before the two-year period has
expired.
(c) Legal separation shall not affect the bonds of matrimony but shall
permit the parties to cease matrimonial cohabitation. The court may
provide for matters such as child custody, visitation, support and
property issues during legal separation upon motion by either party or by
agreement of the parties.
(d) Notwithstanding this section, a party who can establish grounds for
divorce from the bonds of matrimony pursuant to § 36-4-101 shall be
entitled to an absolute divorce pursuant to the provisions of this
chapter.
36-4-101. Grounds for divorce from bonds of matrimony.
(a) The following are causes of divorce from the bonds of matrimony:
(1) Either party, at the time of the contract, was and still is
naturally impotent and incapable of procreation;
(2) Either party has knowingly entered into a second marriage, in
violation of a previous marriage, still subsisting;
(3) Either party has committed adultery;
(4) Willful or malicious desertion or absence of either party, without
a reasonable cause, for one (1) whole year;
(5) Being convicted of any crime that, by the laws of the state,
renders the party infamous;
(6) Being convicted of a crime that, by the laws of the state, is
declared to be a felony, and sentenced to confinement in the
penitentiary;
(7) Either party has attempted the life of the other, by poison or any
other means showing malice;
(8) Refusal, on the part of a spouse, to remove with that person's
spouse to this state, without a reasonable cause, and being willfully
absent from the spouse residing in Tennessee for two (2) years;
(9) The woman was pregnant at the time of the marriage, by another
person, without the knowledge of the husband;
(10) Habitual drunkenness or abuse of narcotic drugs of either party,
when the spouse has contracted either such habit after marriage;
(11) The husband or wife is guilty of such cruel and inhuman treatment
or conduct towards the spouse as renders cohabitation unsafe and
improper, which may also be referred to in pleadings as inappropriate
marital conduct;
(12) The husband or wife has offered such indignities to the spouse's
person as to render the spouse's position intolerable, and thereby forced
the spouse to withdraw;
(13) The husband or wife has abandoned the spouse or turned the spouse
out of doors for no just cause, and has refused or neglected to provide
for the spouse while having the ability to so provide;
(14) Irreconcilable differences between the parties; and
(15) For a continuous period of two (2) or more years that commenced
prior to or after April 18, 1985, both parties have lived in separate
residences, have not cohabited as man and wife during such period, and
there are no minor children of the parties.
(b) A complaint or petition for divorce on any ground for divorce
listed in this section must have been on file for sixty (60) days before
being heard if the parties have no unmarried child under eighteen (18)
years of age, and must have been on file at least ninety (90) days before
being heard if the parties have an unmarried child under eighteen (18)
years of age. The sixty-day or ninety-day period shall commence on the
date the complaint or petition is filed.