How long does a divorce take?
How long does a divorce take? What can I do to make it go faster? What can I do in the meantime? I am simply confused about the whole thing!
If these questions go through your head as you contemplate divorce, or going through it, you’re not alone. While no one can promise the future, there are some factors that can affect the speed of a divorce matter.
How long does a divorce take?
That is one of the most asked questions when a person walks into a consultation. After all, no one wants to be stuck in a bad relationship longer than necessary. In fact, for some who are in domestic violence situations, gathering the courage to talk to an attorney is a difficult step already. Those individuals may not have much more strength to carry on in an abusive relationship or to rebel against their abusers.
Generally, the length of a divorce depends on the situation. Typically, for those who are not in an abusive situation, but also are not contesting the terms of the divorce, the process will take at least 60 days. Realistically, between the time it takes to draft and file documents, and for the Court to approve the documents and finalize the divorce, it may take a bit longer than that. Timing may even be more difficult to gauge if the parties have contested issues that require legal research, evaluations, discovery/ disclosures, depositions, mediations, experts, etc. To put it simply, the more people and arguments are involved, and the less the parties are willing to compromise, the longer the process will take. If the case involves abuse, which can also trigger involvement with criminal charges and the Child Protection Services (CPS), things may take even longer as these other matters may have to conclude before the divorce can be properly handled and finalized.
What can I do to make my divorce go faster?
It is completely normal and reasonable to want to do something about speeding things up. While there are some elements that may be outside of your and your attorney’s control, there are some things that you can do to reduce unnecessary delays.
Communicate with your attorney promptly.
Provide information quickly when requested.
Speak with your attorney before making major decisions in case it interferes with your case.
What can I do in the meantime?
Having a difficult time doing nothing and waiting for things to happen? You can be proactive in some of the things you can do. Start gathering documents and providing them to your attorney in an organized manner. You can also come up with a list of things you want to from the divorce and talk to your attorney about it. Have a house that you want to keep? You may want to start looking into whether or not you have the ability to refinance. What about the car? You may want to start looking for where you kept the title and the loan documents. Of course, there are some things you cannot do that are part of the Court’s “Standing Order” that was filed with your divorce papers. You can check out this blog about standing orders to learn more about it.
Going through a divorce can be confusing. There are many moving parts and unfamiliar things you have to handle. If you want to make sure that you are doing it the right way, and not risk having issues later, you should at least consult an attorney and look into hiring one to help you. Sometimes doing things the wrong way and having to fix it later may cost more than paying for it to be done right the first time.
The content provided in this blog is for informational purposes only. This is not legal advice, and your viewing of this blog does not form any attorney-client relationship.
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