Body Separation - Mutual Consent
Verified 08 décembre 2021 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister), Ministry of Justice
Unlike divorce, legal separation allows spouses to remain married, but to be allowed to no longer live together.
Separation of bodies always leads to the separation of goods.
The procedure for legal separation by mutual consent is identical to the procedure for divorce by mutual consent. A legal separation agreement between the spouses is drawn up by their respective lawyers and is registered with a notary.
FYI
one de facto separation is different from a body separation. De facto separation refers to an unofficial situation in which spouses no longer live together but remain married. Legal separation is provided for by law and is made official by a document written by lawyers and registered with a notary.
Legal separation concerns only married couples and whatever their matrimonial regime (community regime reduced to acquisitions, separation regime, etc.).
Each spouse duty have a lawyer to separate by mutual consent.
Who shall I contact
One fee agreement must be signed with the lawyer to to fix his fees.
If a spouse is under-resourced, he or she may apply for legal aid to cover all or part of these costs.
The lawyer shall send the draft agreement to the spouse whom he is assisting by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.
The draft may not be signed by the spouses before the expiry of a reflection period of 15 days from the reception.
The convention must be signed together by the spouses and their lawyers in 3 copies. Each spouse shall keep an original of the agreement together with its annexes. On the 3rde original is for the notary.
The agreement must then be deposited with a notary. It records it and keeps it in its archives called minutes.
The notary checks whether the procedure has been complied with in form, by the presence in the convention of the mandatory particulars. It checks, for example, whether each of the spouses has complied with the 15-day reflection period before signing the agreement.
The deposit of the agreement with the notary allows the agreement to be given definite date and enforceability, i.e. the Convention shall apply immediately.
The spouses may stipulate in the agreement that the consequences of the separation shall take effect at a later date.
Lawyer's fees
The cost varies depending on the lawyer's fees chosen.
If a spouse's resources are insufficient, he or she may apply for legal aid to cover all or part of these costs.
Notary's fees
Legal separation always entails the separation of the property of the spouses.
The matrimonial regime must be liquidated in order to share the assets between the spouses (property, bank accounts, debts, credits...).
Different types notary fees shall be borne by the spouses.
Effective Date
Legal separation shall take effect on the date of signature of the agreement, unless the spouses have agreed on another date.
The Convention is enforceable to third parties from the day on which the civil registration formalities were completed.
Cessation of the duty of cohabitation
The spouses remain married, but they are allowed to no longer live together.
Separation of property
Separation of bodies always leads to the separation of goods.
Spouses married under a community system will have to liquidate the matrimonial regime, unlike spouses married under the separation of property regime. The liquidation is carried out before a notary.
The spouses' regime will be that of the separation of property. For example, property purchased by one spouse during the legal separation will be considered personal property and not as belonging to the two spouses.
A spouse who takes credit or debt during legal separation will have to pay it alone.
Effects on children
The Convention shall lay down the exercise of parental authority. It determines the place of residence of the child(ren), shall fix the amount of the maintenance, and shall organize the right of access and accommodation.
If pregnant during body separation, the presumption of paternity is excluded because of the lack of cohabitation.
Maintenance of marriage obligations
Other obligations arising out of marriage remain, in particular the duty of fidelity, emergency and support.
As a result, spouses cannot marry or enter into an agreement Civil partnerships: titleContent.
Maintenance payment to spouse
The duty to provide assistance may give rise to the payment of a maintenance to the needy husband. It may be provided for by the legal separation agreement or by a subsequent judgment.
If the consistency of the husband's property debtor This pension may be replaced by the payment of a capital sum.
Can keep the same name
Each spouse retains the use of the other's name, unless the agreement provides otherwise.
Succession
If one of the separated spouses dies, the surviving spouse retains the inheritance rights provided for by law.
However, in the case of legal separation by mutual consent, the agreement may provide for the spouses to waive their respective inheritance rights.
Legal separation ceases if the spouses resume their common life, if they divorce or if one of them dies.
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Conversion to divorce
Legal separation automatically ends with divorce through a procedure in conversion from legal separation to divorce.
The request is made by subpoena in court. The lawyer is obligatory.
It may be requested by one of the spouses after 2 years after the judgment of legal separation.
Where legal separation is made by mutual consent, the divorce application must also be made by mutual consent.
In the case of a joint application by the spouses, the conversion of separation into divorce is not subject to the two-year period and may be requested at any time.
Resumption of community life
Between spouses, the separation of property will be maintained unless the couple chooses another matrimonial regime with a notary.
With regard to third parties, in order to have legal value, the resumption of a common life must be established by a notary or declared to the registrar of the town hall on which the family home of the spouses depends.
An entry shall be made in the margin of the marriage and birth certificates of the spouses.
Death
Legal separation ends when one of the spouses dies.
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Protected major: general provisions
Case and procedure of legal separation
Consequences of Body Separation
End of Body Separation
Jurisdiction of the court
Transformation of a divorce into legal separation
Divorce on conversion of body separation
Divorce by mutual consent by a private deed countersigned by lawyers, filed in the minutes of a notary
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