Short answer. Yes. The Family Code forbids a decree unless the court has taken steps toward the reconciliation of the spouses and is satisfied, despite those efforts, that reconciliation is highly improbable. It is a required stage of the case, not a matter of the judge's preference.
What the law says
No legal separation may be decreed unless the Court has taken steps toward the reconciliation of the spouses and is fully satisfied, despite such efforts, that reconciliation is highly improbable.
Family Code, Article 59 — Reconciliation Effort Required. Read the full provision →
A condition on the decree itself
The provision is drafted as a prohibition: No legal separation may be decreed unless two things are true. The court must have taken steps toward reconciliation, and it must be fully satisfied that reconciliation is highly improbable. Both have to be recorded, which is why the effort appears on the record of the case rather than happening informally. It is the same policy behind the six-month wait before trial — the law does not want a marriage ended before the possibility of saving it has been genuinely tested.
What the steps actually look like
In practice this is not counselling in any deep sense and it does not require you to reconcile. The court explores whether reconciliation is possible and satisfies itself that it is not. A spouse who has decided, clearly and consistently, that the marriage is over is not going to be talked out of it, and the article does not ask the judge to try; it asks the judge to find out. The threshold the court has to reach is highly improbable, which is a finding about reality, not a hope.
If meeting your spouse is unsafe
Say so, early and through your counsel. Nothing in the article requires you to be in a room with a spouse who has been violent, and where the case involves violence against women and their children the special law on that subject sets its own rules for how such cases are handled. Courts can and do take steps in ways that keep the parties apart. This is a concern worth raising at the first opportunity rather than discovering the arrangements on the day.
It is a stage to get through, not an obstacle
Most petitioners find this less daunting than they expected. Being candid — that attempts were made, that they failed, and why — is what allows the court to make the finding the article requires. Evasive or coached answers make it harder, not easier, because the same judge is also charged with watching for collusion. What tends to slow a case here is not the requirement itself but a petitioner who has not decided what they actually want the case to achieve.
Related provisions
- Family Code, Article 59 — Reconciliation Effort Required
- Family Code, Article 58 — Six-Month Cooling-Off Period