How Long to Divorce?

How long will my divorce take?

            Being in the middle of a divorce is never a fun experience. In spite of the few individuals who love battling it out with the former spouse, most individuals want the divorce over as quickly as possible.  An attorney’s experience often can help in determining the length of the divorce and there are various factors that must be considered.  These factors include the following:

1)         The type and complexity of the contested issues.  When custody is the issue, the divorce usually takes longer as a child custody evaluator may need to be involved.  Self-employed spouses also increase the time of a divorce due to the necessity to conduct complex discovery to determine the actual income.

2)         The intensity of feelings between the parties and whether there is an inclination to settle.  This tends to be the factor that drags out a divorce especially when there has been infidelity.  Unfortunately for the parties, the lawyers tend to benefit most from this type of litigation as their fees increase significantly without having to add too much substantive work. This is especially true in states (like Utah) where mediation is required as the actual mediation tends to be a waste of time, but the lawyers still get paid.

3)         The tenacity and desire for litigation of the lawyer of your spouse. Some lawyers just like to litigate and lose focus on the parties and finding a workable solution for the parties.  This is often unfortunate in a divorce with children as the parties will have to deal with each for years to come and the lawyer walks away.  Care must be taken in the selection of an attorney to make sure that if you are inclined to work out a resolution, you should find an attorney who is willing to do so as well.

4)         Does your state have a minimum waiting period?  In Utah this period is 90 days.

For more information please visit Attorney Drew at www.attorneydrew.com