How Long Does a Divorce Take in England and Wales?
1. Introduction: How Long is a Piece of String?
Anyone involved in or facing divorce proceedings will usually want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Divorce can obviously be very stressful, and the sooner it is concluded, the sooner the parties can move on with their lives.
So, it is no surprise that one of the most common questions asked of divorce lawyers is: how long will it take?
Unfortunately, like so many things, there is no simple answer, as it can vary enormously.
But just responding by saying “How long is a piece of string?” is not very helpful.
Accordingly, in this article we will try to provide a rather fuller answer.
Firstly, we will look at the divorce procedure, to see what that says about the length of time that a divorce must take, which will tell us what the minimum length of a divorce is.
We will then move on to look in detail at all of the various things that can make a divorce take (often considerably) longer than that minimum period.
2. The Minimum Length of a Divorce
Divorce in England and Wales must follow a three-step procedure:
- The Divorce Application – The procedure begins by one party filing with the court (usually digitally) their application for a divorce, or by both parties filing a Joint Application. Either way, the application will include a statement that the marriage has broken down irretrievably (this is the ground for divorce). If the application is made by one party only, the court will send the other party (the ‘Respondent’) the divorce application and an Acknowledgement of Service form. The Respondent has 14 days to complete and return the Acknowledgement of Service to the court, confirming they have received the divorce application, and stating whether they object to the divorce on jurisdictional grounds (see below). The Respondent cannot defend the divorce simply because they do not consider that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
- The Conditional Divorce Order – No further step may be taken in the divorce until twenty weeks have elapsed from the start of the proceedings. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘Period for Reflection’, and is intended to give the applicant(s) time to reflect and ensure that they do, indeed, wish to bring the marriage to an end. It also gives the parties a chance to sort out arrangements regarding any dependent children and finances, more of which below. Once the 20-week period has elapsed the applicant or applicants can apply for the Conditional Divorce Order, by confirming to the court that they wish the application to continue. The court will then make the conditional divorce order, in favour of the applicant(s).
- The Final Divorce Order – The Conditional Order does not bring the marriage to an end. To bring the marriage to an end the applicant(s) must apply for the Final Divorce Order. They can only do this once six weeks and one day have elapsed since the date that the court made the Conditional Divorce Order.
Adding together the two time periods at steps 2 and 3 above, and ignoring the time that the court will normally take to deal with the matter, we can see that the absolute minimum length of a divorce is 26 weeks, or six months.
The reality, however, is that the divorce will usually take longer than that, and sometimes considerably longer. We will now examine why.
3. Why a Divorce May Take Longer: Procedural Delays
There are a number of reasons why a divorce may be delayed that relate, directly or indirectly, to the divorce procedure. These include:
- Unresponsive Spouse: In the case of a divorce application by one party only, the court will want to know that the Respondent has received the divorce application. As mentioned above, this will usually be confirmed by the Respondent completing and returning the Acknowledgement of Service to the court. But if they fail to do so then the applicant will have to prove to the court that the respondent has received the application. This can be done in several ways, for example by having the application personally served upon the Respondent by a process server. But obviously, any such step may entail a delay to the divorce.
- Respondent’s Address Unknown: Sometimes, the party wishing to apply for a divorce will simply not know where the respondent is living. In such a situation the applicant can ask the court to dispense with service of the divorce application upon the Respondent. The applicant will need to show the court that they have made every reasonable effort to locate the Respondent. Again, applying to dispense with service may obviously entail a delay to the divorce.
- Withdrawn Cooperation: Sometimes, a divorce application will be made jointly, but one party will stop cooperating at some stage in the procedure. If this occurs before the Conditional Order then the divorce can proceed as a sole application. However, where the Conditional Order was in favour of both parties, but only one party wishes to apply for the Final Order, that party must first give the other party 14 days’ notice of their intention to give notice to the court that they wish the Conditional Order to be made final – obviously, this adds a further short delay to the divorce.
- Applicant Fails to Apply for Final Order: Where a Conditional Order has been made on an application by one party and that party has not applied for the order to be made final, then, at any time after the expiration of three months from the earliest date on which that party could have made such an application, the Respondent can apply for the conditional order to be made final. Obviously, this will add at least another three months to the time that the divorce takes.
- Paperwork Errors: If there are any errors in the divorce paperwork, for example incomplete or incorrectly filled forms, then this can lead to rejections from court processing staff, which can again cause delays in the progress of the divorce.
- System Backlogs: It must be understood that the court can get very busy, which can lead to delays in the processing of the divorce, and the making of the Conditional and Final divorce orders.
- Jurisdictional Challenges: We mentioned above that a Respondent cannot defend a divorce by claiming that the marriage has not irretrievably broken down. However, they can oppose a divorce in two situations:
- Jurisdiction: If the Respondent does not believe that the courts have jurisdiction to deal with the divorce; and
- Invalid Marriage: If the Respondent can prove the marriage was never valid.
These situations are extremely rare, but obviously they will delay, or even prevent, the divorce if they arise.
4. Why a Divorce May Take Longer: Sorting Out Finances
This is the single biggest cause of delays to the divorce. In most cases the divorce should not be finalised until all financial and property matters have been resolved, whether by agreement or order of the court without agreement following contested court proceedings.
Before we examine how financial matters are resolved, and how that may affect the time the divorce takes, there is one special situation that should be mentioned:
Special Protection for Respondent – Obviously, a divorce can have serious financial effects upon a party. And if that party is the Respondent, then they have little control over the divorce procedure, as we have seen above. It is possible, therefore, that a Respondent could find themselves divorced before financial matters have been sorted out. The law therefore gives special protection to Respondents, by allowing them to apply to the court for consideration of their financial position as it will be after the divorce. Where such an application has been made, the court must not make the divorce order final unless it is satisfied:
(a) that the applicant should not be required to make any financial provision for the Respondent, or
(b) that the financial provision made by the applicant for the Respondent is reasonable and fair, or the best that can be made in the circumstances.
Having got that point out of the way, we will now look at the two ways in which financial matters on divorce are resolved:
- By Agreement: Obviously, this should be much quicker than contested court proceedings. It will, however, involve both parties making full disclosure of their finances to each other, a period for negotiation (and possibly mediation), and then having the agreement incorporated into a consent court order. All of this is likely to take some weeks, or even months, although much of it could take place during the twenty-week Period for Reflection mentioned above. Note, however, that the Consent Order cannot be made until after the Conditional Divorce Order.
- By Court Order Without Agreement: Contested court proceedings to sort out finances on divorce will normally take much longer than settling matters by agreement. The exact timethat it takes will depend upon such matters as how long it takes for the parties to make full disclosure of their finances to each other (quite often one party will fail to make full disclosure), the complexity of the matter, and simply how long the court takes to deal with it (bearing in mind that the courts are extremely busy). All of this can mean that contested court proceedings will usually take many months, and can even take a year or more to be completed.
5. Conclusion: Taking Advice and Setting Realistic Goals
As will be seen, there are many things that can delay a divorce, with the result that the time a divorce takes can vary greatly from one case to the next.
The best thing to do is take expert advice on how long your divorce may take, and set yourself realistic goals, based upon that advice.
Walker Family Law’s team of specialist family lawyers can advise you how long your divorce may take. To speak with one of our lawyers, simply complete and submit the form, on this page.
