It only took you a few seconds to officially get married. You just had to sign the paperwork. If you want to consider the entire wedding, the longest it took is a day.
Now that you’re thinking about divorce, though, you’re worried. You’ve heard that it can take a year. You just want this marriage to be over. Is it really going to take that long to sort everything out?
How long will your divorce take?
The good news is that most divorce cases do not take a year. If you’ve seen reports about those that have, they tend to be the outliers. It may take a few months, but a full 12 months is uncommon.
The biggest issue that impacts the length of your case is how well you and your spouse can work together and how much you already agree on. If you have an uncontested divorce, where you agree on the major points — such as how to split up assets — and you just need to legally make it official, that can be fairly quick. If it’s a contested divorce, though, working out the details can take much longer.
Note here that a “contested” divorce just means you don’t agree on the specifics, from how to split time with the kids to what to do with the house. It doesn’t mean that the divorce itself is contested, as there is no way for one spouse to prevent a divorce from happening. Your spouse can make it take longer, but they cannot make it impossible for you to get divorced.
Taking the right steps in your divorce
If getting divorced quickly is your goal, you just need to know what steps to take and what legal options you have. When a divorce is looming, the best way to help your situation is to speak with an experienced advocate so that you can better understand the issues you may face and develop a coherent plan for dissolving your union.
