The Indiana statutes for legal separation are found in IC 31-15-3. Doing some background research for this series, I checked out West's Annotated Statutes to see what case law exists. As usual with the West annotations, they do need a close look to make sure how much they match up with the statute. Today, I am going to give just an overview of the cases. I have other posts that will detail the cases. Let me say no much case law exists.
- West notes two cases under IC 31-15-3-4: Sachs v. Sachs, 97 Ind.App. 224, 185 N.E. 291 (1933), and Richey v. Richey, 128 Ind.App. 503, 149 N.E.2d 126 (1958).
- Under 15-3-6, I found Sachs again and Horlander v. Horlander, , 579 N.E.2d 91, (IndApp. 1991), rehearing denied, transfer denied (and which has nothing substantive to say about legal separation).
- For 15-3-9: Shafer v. Shafer, 219 Ind. 97, 37 N.E.2d 69 (1941).
Notice the ages on these cases. These remain good cases - the appellate courts have not overturned them. However, I think everyone will see two things as we go along: 1) the case law comes out of a different family law context than exists now and 2) that there are reasons why these cases remain good law because of this changed family law context.
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2 comments:
New Hampshire has a legal separation option, which I think is an important alternative to divorce. Although much has certainly changed in family law, for some clients it is important that they receive a separation and not a divorce. Without the separation option, they would have no recourse for court orders regarding property division, alimony, etc.
Oh, I have bene very remiss in responding. I notice one difference with New Hampshire - we lack alimony. However, we do have maintenance. I hope soon to get to the other alternatives to divorce, but let me say here that we procedures for support that do not require filing a divorce.
I have been waiting on a client and the filing of my first separation in over ten years. We will see if Ms Caruso and myself are correct - legal separation provides the certainty of legally enforceable rights.
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