A family law attorney addresses some more detailed questions about legal separation in North Carolina.

• Should you handle child custody in a separation agreement?

You can handle child custody in a separation agreement, but we don’t generally recommend it. A court order is a stronger document. And, should a dispute arise about custody, without a court order, your only recourse is to sue under breach of contract. Whereas, with court-ordered custody, you can seek contempt powers of the court. There is nothing more important than children and their stability, so you want the strongest document possible, which is a court order.

• Can you date while separated?

It is absolutely fine to date while separated. The only issue that may arise is if there were some infidelity in the marriage that the other party could connect to the current partner. Otherwise, it is perfectly appropriate to date once separated from your spouse.

• Do you need an attorney for a separation agreement?

It is very important to have an attorney draw up your separation agreement instead of trying to do it yourself. Ours tend to run in the neighborhood of ten pages, to give you an idea of how complex the language needs to be and how much they cover. If the one you draft yourself isn’t sufficient, it can take months of litigation and thousands of dollars for an attorney to fix it.