How Long Does A Divorce Take
It depends on how you approach it… The minimum is 6 months, but if you end up in court you’re looking at much longer.
It’s important to remember when you are navigating the divorce process there are three separate legal aspects:
1. The Divorce Application, which changes your legal status from married to divorced;
2.. The division of your finances, and remember any agreement you reach will need to be approved as fair by a judge and converted into a court order for it to be binding and finalise your claims against each other; and
3. The arrangements for your children, which, if you both agree, don’t need to involve the courts at all.
So when we’re looking at timeframes, no-fault divorce has made the divorce application much simpler. That will take a minimum of 6 months.
Before you finalise the divorce, you’ll want to agree the division of your finances and have your agreement approved by a family judge and converted into a court order, as the divorce will have important repercussions when it comes to pension and tax.
So the ideal scenario is to negotiate the finances (and any disagreements about long-term child arrangements) during the 6 month divorce application process.
And that’s exactly what we do. Which is why it came as no surprise when we worked out that the average length of time our couples are with us is 4-5 months. But that’s because everyone is working together.
In an adversarial process, the timescale is out of your control, as it depends on the negotiating stance taken by the other person. And if you end up in court, the delays can be enormous. The Farquhar report found that in 2019 for the whole country (bar London), the average length of proceedings which concluded at the Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR) stage was 55 weeks and the average length of proceedings which went to a final hearing was 84 weeks. The equivalent London figures were 117 weeks (just over 2 years) to FDR and 160 weeks (just over 3 years) to final hearing.
If you have more questions about this topic or any other legal issues arising on divorce or separation, please do get in touch as we are always happy to help. You can call us on 0203 488 4475 or email contact@thedivorcesurgery.co.
Related Reading
- Amicable Divorce UK Q&A
- Three Tips For An Amicable Divorce
- What Is No-Fault Divorce In The UK
- Can You Have A Good Divorce?
- ‘Breadmaker’ or ‘Homemaker’ Does It Matter?
Author Name: Editor
Published content by The Divorce Surgery Editorial Team.
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