If you know that your marriage is truly over, delaying obtaining a divorce may not be a good idea. Obviously, each person's situation is unique but there are some reasons why waiting to legally separate or divorce may not be in your best interests.
Delaying your filing gives each party more time to plan, hide assets or defer income. Business income may go up or down. Assets may change significantly in value. Retirement contributions will continue. Clearly the financial distribution will be affected by the length of the marriage and the change in value of assets.
A parent that may not have been as involved in the children's upbringing may all of a sudden become super involved to try and obtain custody. All of a sudden a parent is going to school conferences, after school games, doing homework, cooking meals and stepping up to enhance their relationship. I am not saying that is a bad thing, but if you are the parent that has been more involved previously, the extra time may not work to your benefit even though it may be good for your children.
As income changes up or down, child support and maintenance is affected. The market for the sale of the house may change significantly as well as the value.
Existing law may change. New York is about to change the law on spousal support and eliminate the value of enhanced earning capacity created by licenses or degrees received during the marriage.
The decision to divorce is personal and unique to each person. Once the emotions of the decision are separated from the legal aspects of the decision, careful consideration should be given to the timing.