According to a Boston.com article a woman in Ohio learned via Facebook that her Husband had re-married, despite still being married to her. While the article suggests that there is some disagreement about whether or not the original marriage was valid, it's clear that the Husband should have waited to have the validity of his first marriage determined prior to getting married again. He has risked having his second marriage void, if the first is found to be valid.

This situation is not typical because most clients seeking to end a marriage state that they are not in a rush to get married again. However, according to the U.S. Census Bureau between 66 and 75% of people who get divorced get remarried. Many of these remarriages are less than one year after the divorce.

At the very least you are required to wait to get remarried until the day when you are officially divorced. In Massachusetts there is a waiting period (90 days for Complaints for Divorce, and 120 days for Joint Petitions) until a Divorce becomes final after the hearing. A Judgment of Divorce Nisi does not become absolute until 90 days later, and you are therefore technically still married during that waiting period. If you want your second marriage to be valid you must wait at least that long before getting remarried.

Although this may seem like an unusual problem, since many couples are now choosing long-term separation over divorce, the eventual divorce may occur well after the marriage has practically ended. In fact, the new relationship is more often the impetus behind the ending of a long-term separation. For a discussion on the other issues raised by long-term separation vs. divorce check out our previous post.

Reason #4 Not to Wait: Remarriage

Almost every client who consults with us about divorce indicates they have no intention of getting remarried. And who can blame them for saying that when in the middle of a divorce? But the statistics say otherwise. Most people will get remarried after a divorce, and if you are separated and meet someone you want to marry, you will now have to wait for your divorce process to be complete. You can't simply get remarried like Richard Barton Jr. of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who was charged with Bigamy for getting remarried before being divorced (and who got caught because he was dumb enough to post his new marriage photos on Facebook).

Divorces can take years depending on how complicated the issues are and how much either party wants to fight. If you meet someone new will they want to wait that long? Will you? And how will having this third party involved in your life affect your finances (which can be discussed in court)?

If you don't want to face these problems, then consider what you are waiting for if you know your marriage is over. If there is no chance of reconciliation, then there are some pretty good reasons to move on with your life.

In Massachusetts, the standard for a no-fault divorce is whether or not you subjectively believe that your marriage is irretrievably broken down with no chance of reconciliation.

If you are separated but believe that there is a chance of reconciliation, then you should not get divorced (and you do not meet the legal standard to do so anyway).

However, if you are separated and you do believe that your marriage is over, then there are some compelling reasons not to wait to get divorced. This four part post will highlight the most compelling of these reasons.

Reason #1 Not to Wait: Cutting Financial Ties

So long as you are married, you have a financial link to your spouse. In Massachusetts any property that you hold either jointly or individually can be considered marital property subject to division by the family court. This means that if you acquire financial assets after your separation your spouse may have a claim to those, even if they didn't pay a dime to help you obtain those assets.

Similarly, if your spouse incurs debt after your separation, you may have some obligation to help pay that debt. This is true even if you had nothing to do with the items purchased.

The Court does not ignore the fact of your separation, and it may have a significant impact on how those post-separation assets or debts are divided. But the separation is only one factor among many that the Court must weigh. This means that until the divorce is filed, you are financially linked to your spouse whether or not you are physically separated (and whether or not you separate your finances).

Read Reason #2: The Ticking Time Bomb.

I often ask my Divorce clients to tell me how they visualize their life five years from now. This often helps focus clients on their goals, which helps us determine the best decisions to make in their divorce case. For instance, if a client doesn't see themselves living in this area five years from now, then I wouldn't recommend that they buy their spouse out of a marital home.

One question that comes up in many cases is the likelihood that a client might get remarried, which can have an obvious impact on divorce issues (such as alimony which typically ends upon remarriage).

Almost every Divorce client that enters my office is adamant that they will not get remarried. But the statistics disagree. In fact, 50 percent of divorced individuals remarry within five years. According to a study by the Department of Health and Human Services, the percentage was even higher in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Many clients don't want to hear about these statistics, but I think that one of my jobs as a Divorce attorney is to focus clients on the future. It is important for people going through a divorce to realize that there is light at the end of the tunnel and they should be thinking about life after divorce, not just life during a divorce.

Although, a Divorce client might not think a 50% chance that they'll remarry in five years is good news today, I think believing that love is still possible ultimately gives people hope and optimism about their future.

In Massachusetts the statutory waiting period after a Judgment of Divorce and before the divorce becomes final (or absolute) is called the Nisi period. After a divorce case settles or goes to trial, a Judgment of Divorce Nisi will issue and it will become Absolute after a further ninety (90) days.

This waiting period serves the purpose of allowing parties to change their mind before the divorce becomes final. If the Judgment of Divorce Nisi has issued but not become final yet, and you and your spouse decide you don't want to get divorced, then you can file a Motion to Dismiss and the Judgment will be undone. Although many of my clients who are getting divorced think the idea of getting back together with their ex sounds crazy, I have had cases where this happened.

In addition to offering a grace period to change your mind, the Nisi period has three other legal effects:

1. The most obvious effect of the waiting period is that you cannot remarry during the Nisi period, because you would then technically be married to two people.

2. If the Nisi period crosses December 31, then you are considered married for that tax year which means you must file under "joint" or "married, filing separately" and cannot file as "single".

3. Under some health insurance plans you may not be able to stay on your ex's health insurance (as explained further in our previous post, Will I be able to keep my health insurance after the divorce?), but at least during the Nisi period you can stay on the health insurance.