SEPARATION AGREEMENTS

A SEPARATION AGREEMENT is a contract between two people who are ending a marriage or a common-law relationship. It is used to settle all or some of the issues arising from their relationship's breakdown. Such an agreement can contain almost anything relevant to ending your relationship, including who will have child custody decisions, spousal support obligations, and decisions regarding how property will be divided.
It is important to remember that entering into separation agreement has a serious and lasting impact on your rights and obligations.  Consulting a lawyer is advisable for assistance in preparing and negotiating this agreement.

By agreeing on terms privately, through the negotiation or mediation the separation agreement reduces the need for court intervention, saving time, money, and emotional stress. While not mandatory, courts typically respect these agreements if they are fair, negotiated in good faith, and meet legal requirements. However, in order to reach an agreement, both parties have to want to negotiate and voluntarily enter into the agreement. 

Once signed and witnessed the agreement becomes enforceable like a contract. If one party breaches it (e.g., fails to pay support), the other can seek enforcement through the courts.

When negotiating a separation agreement,  financial disclousure is extremely important.  When parties are negotiating support and property based issues, they have to fully disclose their financial circumstances to each other.  Mutual exchange of financial information dispels the potential for the other party to claim ignorance of your financial circumstances. This could give them grounds for challenging final agreement later on in the future. 

Both parties increase the integrity of a separation agreement by obtaining independent legal advice.  As you can imagine - a separation agreement is a very complex document, and drafting it is best left to a lawyer.