Separation Agreements in the Land Records

Married couples have had difficulty getting along since the first marriage. It’s the nature of human relationships that some don’t work as smoothly as hoped.

For whatever reason, couples may choose not to actually divorce or file any court action regarding the dissolution of their marriage. They may however record some sort of land record to “separate” their property as a couple did in Kentucky did in 1862 (Michael and Margaret Trautvetter in Campbell County). The deed specified that the couple was not getting divorced at that point in time, but decided to partition their real and personal property into “his” and “hers.”

Is there a land record documenting your relative’s separation?

Not all marital squabbles ended in court–particularly if the couple separated without divorcing.

Of course, if the couple had no real property then there was no need for any sort of document partitioning the property between them.