What is a legal separation?

A legal separation is a misleading term.  In Virginia, two spouses are separated if they are no longer living together as a married couple.  Whether any given couple meets that standard is entirely fact-dependent.  Two spouses can even live under the same roof and still be conducting a valid marital separation.

Several factors the courts consider - in those rare instances where there is a dispute over when/if a marital separation began - include (but are by no means limited to) the following:  

• sleeping in separate bedrooms
• discontinuing sexual relations
• not presenting themselves out in public as a married couple
• not cooking, cleaning, shopping for one another
• maintaining separate finances