Legal Question in Family Law in California

Very nearly nothing. A true legal separation proceeding is filed on the same petition form as a divorce. All the same disclosure requirements apply. Property is divided and custody of minor children and child and/or spousal support are ordered the same as a divorce. The only two real differences are that there is no six-months mandatory minimum wait from service on the respondent to the earliest day a judgement can be entered, and at the end of a divorce you are legally single, whereas at the end of a legal separation proceeding you still have the bare legal status of married - meaning you are still spouses for various benefits and religious purposes, and you cannot marry someone else.

With the expansion of the marital fiduciary rules under the family code, there is a significant difference between the outcome resulting from a legal separation or divorce. In a divorce, your property is divided, you are returned to the status of a unmarried person and you have no ongoing fiduciary duty to one another on management and control over property. However in a legal separation, you get a judgment dividing your property but you remain married and all the fiduciary management and control rules still apply.

Simply stated, you can't remarry someone else when you have had a legal separation, because you would still have a status as a married couple. A divorce terminates the marital status, allowing the parties to remarry without violating the laws on bigamy.

In a legal separation the property is divided and support is calculated but you are still legally married. Therefore you may not remarry and you still owe your spouse all the fiduciary duties one spouse in a marriage owes the other. At the end of a dissolution (divorce) you are no longer married and except for any support obligations or financial orders that might be put into place you owe your former spouse nothing. You are also free to remarry. If you are legally separated you may still share health benefits. At the end of a divorce unless there is a court order to the contrary health benefits may cease.

Good luck