What is the difference between a legal separation and a divorce?
The end result is different, but the procedure and most of the issues involved are the same. A legal separation does not dissolve the marriage and does not give either spouse the legal capacity to remarry. The order generally defines the rights and responsibilities of the spouses between each other while living apart. On the other hand, a divorce decree, dissolves the marriage. The familial relationship has ended. Tthe spouses can no longer share in the estate of the other spouse, there are no longer any mutual responsibilities of support between the spouses other than those stated in the divorce decree, and each party has the legal capacity to remarry.
