In Marital

Indiana is not a community property state. States are either community property states or equitable distribution states, where property is divided fairly, but not always equally. A community property state presumes both spouses equally own all marital...

Buying a home while legally married but separated from your former spouse is certainly possible, but there's some extra documentation needed and things to be aware of. First, your lender is going to require your legal separation agreement. If you have a property settlement agreement, they'll need that as well.

Marital Settlement Agreements, reached between the parties in writing and signed by the parties, become legally binding when approved by the court at the time of the final court hearing.Once approved by the court, such post judgment stipulations do become legally binding and enforceable between the parties.

Do not move out of the marital home: If you move out of the home during a separation, you will not get equal time to spend with your children. Do not make your separation public: Avoid telling people that you and your partner are separating.

Assets acquired during the marriage and any acquired post separation are included in the one pool. Because the value of an asset of one or both of the parties may have risen or fallen quite significantly between separation and the trial date, a court must examine any changes carefully.

Marital property refers generally to all of the property acquired by either or both spouses during the marriage. Separate property refers to any property the spouses acquired separately before the marriage or after separation (or in some states after divorce).

Couples who are separated, whether informally or legally, are still married in the eyes of the law, regardless of how independent their lives have become. This means that if either spouse has a sexual relationship with another person during the separation period, they have probably committed adultery.

California law also provides that property spouses acquire before a divorce, but after the date of separation, is separate property.There is a strong presumption under California divorce law that the assets a couple accumulates during the marriage are community property, meaning owned equally by the spouses.