Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: Requesting continuation of legal separation as respondent in petition for di

The answer to your question is yes you can reach such

an agreement as regards to the legal separation. You

need to see a lawyer for this type of negotiation. I

am not suggesting you cannot do it; but, I am suggesting

that a lawyer might be able to do it better. If you are

in one of the bigger cities in NM go see an expensive

lawyer. You did not say how old your child is or the

amount of money you are receiving thus I cannot know

from your question how much money you are talking

about; however, I would assume it is a fair amount.

Thus, you are probably talking about a lot of money;

don't be afraid to spend a lot of money to get what you want.

As regards to your name change there are two answers

to your question. First, you can use any name you like

at any time you want without legal papers. Second,the

main goal about name changes is that the law does not

want people to change their name for fraud or to avoid

creditors. Other than that the state of your marriage

(essentially) has nothing to do with whether you change

your name or not. That is, even if you are in a happy

marraige with no prospect of divorce then you can still

change your name. Last, the name change is in section

40-8 of the New Mexico Statutes Annotated (NMSA).

Good Luck.