If you and your spouse went through the legal separation process by getting a Judgment of Separate Maintenance, you may have been living separate lives for years. If the time has come to finally take the last step toward divorce, you should know that the work you did in negotiating your separate maintenance agreement wasn't wasted. The entry of a judgment of separate maintenance streamlines divorce by taking some (but not all) issues off the table.
What is a Judgment of Separate Maintenance?
A Judgment of Separate Maintenance is essentially a legal separation in the Michigan legal system. While rare, a separate maintenance action allows parties to divide up their households, including everything from property to custody, while still remaining married. Some families prefer a separate maintenance action for religious reasons, due to disability of one spouse, or to preserve military benefits or healthcare coverage. However, in most cases, couples who get a Judgment of Separate Maintenance will eventually come back to court to ask the Judge to enter a judgment of divorce.
Why You Still Need a Divorce After a Judgment of Separate Maintenance is Entered
A Michigan family court judge is the only one who can dissolve a legal marriage, and only in divorce action. The biggest difference between a Judgment of Separate Maintenance and a Judgment of Divorce is whether the parties are still legally married after the judgment is entered. If you and your spouse have been separated and maintaining your own households, you may have good reason to want to cut that tie. For example, one or both of you may have found a new romantic partner and be considering remarriage. Before you can do that your first marriage needs to come to a formal, legal end. For that, you will need to file a new Complaint for Divorce.
How a Judgment of Separate Maintenance Streamlines Divorce
Given that you need to go back to court to get a divorce, you may feel like your Judgment of Separate Maintenance was just a waste of time. But the truth is, having a formal agreement such as a Judgment of Separate Maintenance or a separation agreement can go a long way to streamlining the divorce process.
That's because both consent judgments of separate maintenance and separation agreements are considered binding and enforceable against both parties. That means once you agree on how these issues will be resolved once, you won't have to do it again. A recent Michigan Court of Appeals decision, Johnson v Johnson, confirmed that entry of a consent judgment of separate maintenance will keep those issues from being relitigated in a later divorce action. Johnson says that the judge in your divorce action must follow the terms of your separate maintenance, rather than reinventing the wheel.
Most judgments of separate maintenance contain terms that describe what to do when either party files for divorce. This could include who will pay the attorney fees. It also usually requires the Judgment of Divorce to match the terms of the earlier agreement. When you file a Complaint for Divorce, you can use that to your advantage. Your Michigan divorce lawyer can file a motion asking the Trial Court to adopt the terms of the Judgment of Separate Maintenance by entering a Judgment of Divorce that matches your earlier agreement without the need for a new trial.
Issues That Can Still Be Revisited After the Judgment of Separate Maintenance is Entered
However, depending on your circumstances, there may still be issues to resolve in your divorce action after a judgment of separate maintenance has been entered. In Johnson, for example, the Judgment of Separate Maintenance included a modifiable spousal support award. The wife in that case argued that, years later when the divorce was happening, that earlier spousal support award was no longer sufficient. As is often the case when a judgment of separate maintenance was converted to a divorce, the wife in Johnson was no longer eligible for coverage under her husband's health insurance. That meant her expenses were increasing and her need for support changed along with it.
Child-related issues are also always modifiable post-judgment. If there have been many years between your Judgment of Separate Maintenance and your divorce action, the chances are good that you will need to adjust your custody agreement, parenting time schedule, or child support amount to better reflect the kids' circumstances and their ages.
However, the benefit of using a judgment of separate maintenance to streamline your divorce is that you and your attorney can focus your attention on these modifiable issues. You won't need to take valuable court time documenting your assets and debts, or arguing over who takes which furniture or retirement accounts. Instead, this new round of negotiations and possible litigation can be laser focused on what has changed since your Judgment of Separate Maintenance was entered. That way your Judgment of Divorce can be in everyone's best interest, without going back over every decision you made throughout your marriage.
Get Help With a Separate Maintenance Action from a Michigan Family Lawyer
At Bebout, Potere, Cox & Bennion, P.C., we care about you and your family. We help individuals and families in Rochester Hills, Rochester, Troy, Lake Orion, Oxford, Oakland County, Macomb County and throughout Southeast Michigan. We can help covert your separate maintenance to a divorce. Call us at 248-651-4114 or contact us here to speak to an attorney.
