In recent times, many people have opted to forgo hiring legal counsel and decided to create their own legal separation agreements. This is alternatively known as a property settlement agreement or a marital settlement agreement. The reasoning behind this potentially seeming unwise and rash course of action is the ability for couples to have more command over their private affairs and forgo the potential of spending inordinate amounts of money in legal fees. Clearly, if you want to do the separation agreement yourself you must make sure you have the requisite knowledge of your state’s domestic-relations laws. It is possible that without adequate knowledge and research, an agreement could arise that would not withstand legal challenges by one party.
This article cannot pragmatically delineate every legal principle applicable to legal separation agreements which would apply in every state. With that said, we will attempt to convey some basic legal principles that generally ubiquitous among states and fundamentally essential to the proper drafting of a legitimate legal separation agreement. The first requirement is financial disclosure amongst the parties. This simply implies that both parties to the agreement must share all their financial information and not withhold anything. If a party is deemed to have withheld any financial information not limited to income, assets, and liabilities, they have legally violated their fiduciary responsibility to their partner. Therefore, it is necessary that individuals should provide the other party with a full disclosure of all pertinent financial matters prior to executing the separation agreement.
Another fundamental principle is undue pressure. It is necessary that during the proceedings, husband and wife should be granted copious opportunity to ponder the proposed legal terms and conditions and that there is also ample opportunity to engage in negotiations regarding the proposed agreement. Moreover, if a lawyer is not hired, it is necessary that in the body of the separation agreement, you include the clause that acknowledges that each partner is aware of the opportunity to retain independent counsel and has voluntarily agreed to commence without their own attorney.
Please continue reading the rest of this article in Part 2 on the article menu on the left. Thank you and have a great day!