If your spouse wants a separation and you do not, it is still possible to file under this ground, but the wait is longer. Maryland requires one year of living apart. Whether the separation is voluntary or not so voluntary, it has to be continuous. This does not mean that you and your spouse can’t meet for lunch or dinner on occasion, but it does mean that you cannot have sexual relations with each other. If a candlelight dinner intended to discuss your children’s report cards ends up kindling your sexual desire for each other, and you follow your passions into bed, then your waiting period has to start all over again. It will begin the day after your bedroom encounter even if you’ve been on good behavior for 11 ½ months. Sex between you and your spouse is strictly forbidden during your waiting period. Sex with others can be a problem, too; the grounds for your divorce could change. You must live in separate abodes. Even if one person were to live in the attic and the other in the basement, it won’t count for “living separate and apart.”