Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Erik wants to live with his better half, Tammi Menendez if he's released from prison. She lives there, so that's where Erik plans to go.

We don't know Lyle's intention once he's released from prison ... though he's married too.

Erik and Tammi first started communicating through letters in 1993 while she was married to someone else. Tammi says she first doubted abuse claims made by the brothers against their father ... though she later came around when she found out her first husband was sexually abusing her daughter.

The two bonded over their shared trauma -- she wrote about it in her 2005 book, "They Said We'd Never Make It: My Life With Erik Menendez." Tammi says he comforted her, and their relationship became more serious.

The two married in 1999 -- using a Twinkie as a wedding cake -- and, they've remained married ever since ... this despite not being allowed conjugal visits.

Lyle has been married twice during his time in prison ... first to Anna Eriksson from 1996 to 2001 and then to Rebecca Sneed in 2003. Like his brother, he met both of his wives through letters. Lyle and Rebecca corresponded for more than a decade before they married.

L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón will announce his decision as to whether he will try and free the brothers. Gascón could go two ways -- either ask a judge to resentence Erik and Lyle, or ask the judge to set aside the murder conviction and impose a voluntary manslaughter conviction. The maximum in Cali for voluntary manslaughter is 11 years, and the brothers have served nearly 35 years ... so if the judge signs on, they would be released.