By: Ovvie Miller

Periodical: Los Angeles Lawyer

Date: February 1997

For lawyers counseling clients who want to establish marital separation date, California case law identifies the following checklist of conduct that would be supportive of the client's position.

        Don't maintain contact with the spouse.1

        Don't eat at the family residence.2

        Don't use the family time as a mailing address or for voter registration.3

        Don't take your spouse (or family) on vacations or to entertainments.4

        Don't send letters or cards.5

        Don't send flowers.6

        Don't say "I love you" or express similar sentiments.7

        Don't bring your laundry home to be washed.8

        Don't file joint income tax returns.9

        Don't acquire property together.10

        Don't say you and your spouse are not separated.11

        Don't reconcile or discuss reconciliation.12

        Don't maintain joint checking accounts or credit cards.13

        Don't voluntarily support your spouse.14

        Don't have sexual relations with your spouse.15

True, this checklist may appear to be a cynical exposition, inimical to the maintenance of civility and lifetime family relationships.  But it is the combination of these factors that may result in a finding of no separation.  Perhaps a kind end to a marriage - one that allows for expressions of goodwill and residual feelings - can still be accomplished by a stipulation that a legal separation will not be affected by any of the indicated prohibited conduct.

These admonitions may be more than many, perhaps most, litigants are prepared to embrace.  The wise lawyer may nonetheless review such matters with his or her client to avoid an inadvertent misstep and the claim "but you never told me."

Ovvie Miller, a partner in the Beverly Hills firm of Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman, specializes in family law and handles occasional civil litigation.

Our Litigation Department specializes in civil litigation at all levels of the judiciary, and has wide-ranging experience in litigating business, commercial and entertainment-industry related matters. We have extensive experience in accounting and partnership, antitrust, and securities and corporate litigation. Additional areas of emphasis include copyright and intellectual property, real estate and products liability litigation as well as in the appellate practice.

Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman was founded in 1957.  The Firm’s areas of expertise include: Labor and Employment Law, Litigation, Corporate, Entertainment, Trusts and Estates, Taxation, Family Law, Insurance Coverage and Defense, Real Estate and Employee Benefits.

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