separation under the same roof

Hi there, my gal friend's planning to divorce her husband but the husband has been out of employment in the last 5 years and is not financially capable to find another place to live. My gal friend doesn't want to leave the house either ( the property is jointly owned by both parties)


They have been sleeping in different beds for 3 months now. Does it count as "separated"? If it does, will it require both of them to declare the separation now, or do it later with a lawyer? Will it require some evidence to show that the couple has actually gone through sufficient time of separation?


As much as I remember, it would require 1 year of separation if mutually agree to do so and then can apply for divorce proceeding?


Any lawyer here can help my friend to proceed?


J.

GreenValleys, thanks for pointing out I missed out one important info. My friend lives in Hong Kong.

If both parties agree to get divorced and it is not contested, they can count the time they're living in the same household towards the separation. It can get difficult, however, if one party says that yes they were separated and the other party then disagrees. So it's not impossible, but it's more preferable if they do live in different homes.