Separation agreements entail legal consensus between spouses or two individuals who have decided to part ways. The process may not necessarily be a divorce, but also individuals who have not made decisions about their status.
The separating spouses are entitled to the rights and obligations involved in the sharing of debts and assets.
There are steps involved in written separation agreements, and separating individuals must follow the steps to make the procedure legal and peaceful.
How to Write Up a DIY Separation Agreement
Coming to an Agreement on all Issues
The separation procedure revolves around several issues that the spouses must adhere to before parting ways. In the first instance, the separating couple must share their marital debt based on responsible persons as well as beneficiaries. In the distribution of assets, a couple considers debt-to-asset ratio and the loans which various properties are securing. Inherited or gifted properties remain under the ownership of original beneficiaries.
The court may order one spouse to pay the other spousal upkeep in cases where there is a disparity in their incomes. The couple makes a decision on the amount payable, and the person to make the payment. Spouses also decide on physical and legal custody of their minor children, procedures that may either be joint or sole.
The engaged couples must also specify the parenting time, which involves the time allocated for the physical parent. “Child support is the other issue which includes mathematical formulations to find out the amounts of support,” says Katherine Wakefield, Divorce Writer at SolidEssay and ConfidentWriters. The calculations follow worksheets that are non-identical across different states.
Locating the Separation Agreement Form
The statutory and local courts provide the agreement forms, but individuals who fail to get them can modify any agreement form to accommodate their needs. The arrangements are also downloadable, and spouses may obtain and combine 3 to 4 forms to generate a custom agreement. Websites, where couples can download agreement forms, include those belonging to state or county courts. Local websites are Find Law, Rocket Law, Laws.com, and Law Depot. The forms present online questions to the couples who complete and print them to produce written documents.
Filling in the Separation Agreement Form
The couple will proceed to fill in the form in a simple English language with high precision. The necessary details include parenting time, personal property, child custody, and child support. Couples who come up with their plans regarding the division of roles and debts must type the idea separately and attach it to the agreement. Personalized listing of property and child custody schedules are also subject to separate typing and attachment to the main agreement form.
Additional Information
The couples are at liberty to include additional attachments to the separation agreement. The provision allows couples to give comprehensive details about their agreement as they cover the entire aspects that may cause misunderstandings in the future. The additional paragraphs must be typed and attached to the separation agreement form. The couples must also adhere to the rule of plain English language and concision when writing the additional paragraphs.
Creation of Signature Block
The couples create spaces where they can both sign to validate the agreement. Underneath the signatures are the typewritten names of the spouses for validation. Documents with missing signatures become invalid, as they indicate the ownership of the statements in the form.
Including a Place for Notary Signature
“Notarization of signatures involves the sealing or stamping of the agreement form to make it fraud deterrent and authentic. The process assures the couples of trust, as they confirm that they signed the form through a free and voluntary will,” says Robin Wilson, Family Law Writer at Paper-Research and BeeStudent. Each party appears in person to put a notary sign, a procedure that eliminates future misunderstanding of the document.
In summary, filling in a separation agreement form is a stepwise process that seeks to separate couples in the absence of divorce. The separating individuals must agree on all the fundamental issues, including debts and assets share, child support, and custody, as well as property ownership.
The spouses proceed to find the form from credible sources like courts and provide the necessary information. The final stage involves signing the form and providing security through a notary signature.
Paul Bates ([email protected]) is a professional family writer and editor residing in San Diego, California. He writes for multiple publications including Medium, HuffPost, and EssayTask. www.essaytask.com
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