You’ve been thinking about getting divorced, but you find the process daunting. You’d rather it was already over and you could just put the relationship behind you. As such, you want the divorce to go as quickly as it can.
If so, some complications can make it take longer than necessary. It’s important to know what they are so that you know how to avoid them – and what delays you should expect.
Your spouse doesn’t respond
First and foremost, you can get a default divorce even if your spouse does not respond to the petition. Generally, though, you have to give them a predetermined amount of time to answer. Even if you know they won’t, you still have to wait for this deadline to pass, making the divorce take longer than if they’d just responded right away.
You have disputes over assets
Another issue that is going to extend the length of the divorce is when there are significant disputes over major assets and how to divide them. Maybe you and your spouse can’t decide what to do with a family business, for instance. You could sell the business and split the earnings, buy your spouse’s share or keep working together as co-owners – but deciding which tactic you want to use is going to take time.
You have children together
Additionally, parents are usually going to have a longer divorce process than childless couples simply because there are numerous details that have to be decided for the children. The parents have to split up physical and legal custody. They need to know about all of their parental rights. The court has to issue a child custody order.
Every divorce case is unique. As you move toward yours, be sure you know what legal steps to take.