Legal separation is a great idea, I think. Virginia just rolled it into the divorce decree, so it never took hold until the divorce was already final. Though, because we had children, if we had cohabitated at any time during the year we claimed to live apart, the clock went to zero and we had to start all over again. Such a pain in the ass, especially since I knew I wanted the divorce, but he was even more codependent than me! Anyway, my ex isn't an A (just an a-hole I knew I would divorce the day I married him), but I would still recommend a trial separation for anyone facing marital problems. If we don't have our respective sh*t together, then collectively we will just have a pile of it and tons of problems.