A discussion of the differences between the two.
1
Legal Separation
When you seek and obtain a court order of legal separation, the marriage does not end but your debts and assets are divided as of the final day of the proceeding and thereafter anything you acquire or debts that you incur are yours and in no ways affects your spouse. Legally you are still married and are not free to remarry but the marital community has been broken.
2
Divorce
Divorce ends both the marital community, dividing assets and debts, as of the date of final separation, and terminates the marriage. In all states but NY divorce is exclusively no fault and based only on the claim by one of the participants that there are "irreconcilable differences." Afterwards, the two spouses are free to re-marry.
3
Why Choose One Over the Other
It was more true in the past but still true today that some couples did not want to continue together but for some reason, usually religious, didn't want a divorce. Legal separation is for them. Divorce wipes the slate clean and allows you to make the same mistake twice. Remember the sentiment of the great English lexicographer, Samuel Johnson, who opined that a second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.
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