Divorce Time Length
Are you wondering how long it is going to take for your divorce to settle, start to finish? Here is what you need to know about divorce time length and how it varies case to case.
Divorce Time Length | Paperwork
There’s really no good answer for that because it depends on a lot of different factors. It depends on how quickly the package can be put together by the client. We obviously can go and do the paperwork very quickly to file it with the County Clerk and get it back. It depends on how the defendant is going to be served. If they already have an attorney, we usually have the attorney go and serve it on the defendant. If they don’t have an attorney, sometimes they come into the office and then there’s a 20-day period before we can proceed with the divorce.
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Divorce Time Length | Serving Papers
If they’re not able to do any of those two things, then we must have them served. Normally, we hire the Civil Department of the Sheriff’s Department to go and have them served. They present us back with an affidavit of service, and then there’s a 20-day period for the defendant to go hire an attorney or try to represent themselves.
Divorce Time Length | Reviewing Stage
If they do nothing, we can go ahead with a default divorce. We can put the paperwork together quickly and send it off to the court. The court takes anywhere from four to six weeks to review it and sign off on it. The other possibility is that they hire an attorney. Once they do that, it really changes the ball game. With the other attorney, you’ve got to go through the full process. It’s not too often that we can go and settle things out of court.
Divorce Time Length | Estimated Time
I’ve seen cases go and take 18 months if they’re heavily litigated, and maybe two years, but that is not normal. That’s kind of the exception. I would say a ballpark would be nine months for an average divorce case to settle. If you have any further questions about divorce time length, please call our Jamestown divorce attorney today for a free consultation.
