{"id":5911,"date":"2026-06-16T10:16:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T14:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/?p=5911"},"modified":"2026-06-16T10:16:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T14:16:02","slug":"is-there-legal-separation-in-new-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/is-there-legal-separation-in-new-jersey.html","title":{"rendered":"Is There Legal Separation in New Jersey?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most common misconceptions about divorce in New Jersey is the belief that spouses must become \u201clegally separated\u201d before they can file for divorce. Many people assume there is a formal court process that changes their marital status while they remain married but live apart.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike some other states, New Jersey does not recognize legal separation as a formal legal status. While spouses may choose to live separately before or during divorce proceedings, they remain legally married until a final judgment of divorce is entered by the court.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why People Assume Legal Separation Exists<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/is-there-legal-separation-in-new-jersey.html\"  title=\"Continue Reading Is There Legal Separation in New Jersey?\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most common misconceptions about divorce in New Jersey is the belief that spouses must become \u201clegally separated\u201d before they can file for divorce. Many people assume there is a formal court process that changes their marital status while they remain married but live apart. Unlike some other states, New Jersey does not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[246,65,93],"tags":[],"coauthors":[186],"class_list":["post-5911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-divorce-family-law-insights","category-insights","category-mcglew"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is There Legal Separation in New Jersey? &#8212; June 16, 2026 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. Firm News &amp; Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the most common misconceptions about divorce in New Jersey is the belief that spouses must become \u201clegally separated\u201d before they can file for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/is-there-legal-separation-in-new-jersey.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is There Legal Separation in New Jersey? &#8212; June 16, 2026 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. 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Firm News &amp; Events","og_description":"One of the most common misconceptions about divorce in New Jersey is the belief that spouses must become \u201clegally separated\u201d before they can file for","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/is-there-legal-separation-in-new-jersey.html","og_site_name":"Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. 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