A divorce decree cannot be granted in the District unless the following separation criteria have been met: Parties have “mutually and voluntarily” lived separate and apart from one another without cohabitation for a period of six months prior to commencing of an action or that; parties have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for a period of one year prior to commencing the action. In the second category most likely the separation has been court ordered as it would not have been “mutually and voluntary.” Thus the statute requires a legal separation before issuing a divorce decree and the legal
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