Introduction

Whether you have recently filed, or in the midst of a divorce, you will often wonder: how long does it take to get a divorce?

Like all great legal answers, the correct answer is (drum roll), it depends. Of course, you did not come here for the generic answer. You came looking for a specific one. The answer, somewhat depends on you, whether you are willing to settle, whether your spouse is willing to settle, and the extent of discovery you might have to conduct.

From my 10+ years of experience, I can say that on average most divorces last around 6-12 months. Most divorce cases will settle. However, some will go to trial. Even though most cases settle, they typically not settle right away.

Settlement

As you can imagine, the emotions are high at the outset of a divorce. After all, the parties to a divorce used to love each other and now their emotions toward each other are so negative that they have no more love and want to get a divorce.

Due to all that emotion, most people are ready to fight at the beginning of a divorce. As time goes by and the steam wanes, most people are ready to settle.

In addition to the initial angst of a divorce case, there is usually a minimum level of discovery that is prudent to conduct before settling. For example, you might want to request financial records from your spouse to confirm their income from tax returns, or amount of funds held in bank accounts, or titles of real estate.

It is hard to settle unless you have good information. So, the initial stages of a divorce are often used to gather the information needed to make an informed settlement.

Even if you want and can settle early on, there are still some limiting factors that will make it difficult to get a divorce quickly. Here’s a quick rundown of the stages of a divorce to give you an idea of what is involved and how long it can take.

Divorce Timeline

First, you have to file for divorce to get a divorce. After filing, you will need to serve your spouse with the initial divorce papers. This can take some time if your spouse is dodging service, out of town, or otherwise in an unknown location.

Second, AFTER you serve your spouse, the absolute soonest you can get a divorce is 60 days after service of the divorce papers. This is due to the “cooling down” statute, A.R.S. § 25-329, which does not allow the court to enter a decree of divorce for at least 60 days after service.

Resolution Management Conference

Next, at some point after the date of service, the court will likely schedule what is called a Resolution Management Conference. This can either happen early on at the request of either party, or maybe a month or two into the divorce if the court sets it on its own.

The Resolution Management Conference is essentially a scheduling conference, but it is generally associated with a couple of important tasks or deadlines. The court will typically require both parties to complete their initial disclosures under Rule 49, and file their respective Proposed Resolution Statement.

This allows the Court, and the parties, to determine the contested issues in the divorce, and the parties’ positions on the issues. From these positions, you can tell how far apart you and your spouse might be on the contested issues.

Temporary Orders

If either party requests a temporary orders hearing, then the court will have to hold such a hearing. Depending on whether there was a Resolution Management Conference previously scheduled, the court will schedule the temporary orders hearing around 30 days after the Conference.

At this point, you are probably roughly 2-5 months into the divorce. However, there are at least two more major events in most divorce cases.

Mediation

The first would be mediation. In Arizona, the court will often require the parties to attend a form of mediation prior to scheduling a trial. In Maricopa County, the form of mediation used is called Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Due to the high case load in Maricopa County, it can often be months before there is an opening for Alternative Dispute Resolution. On average, it would likely be scheduled 3-5 months out into the future.

Trial

Some judges will not schedule a trial date until AFTER the parties have attended Alternative Dispute Resolution. So, if you are not successful in settling all of your case at Alternative Dispute Resolution, then you will have to schedule trial.

A trial date can usually be set 2-4 months after Alternative Dispute Resolution. If you go to trial instead of settling your case, then you will need to realize and expect that the judge will not rule on the divorce immediately after trial. Rather, the judge will take the matter under advisement at the conclusion of trial, and then enter the divorce ruling something after.

Under the Arizona Constitution, the judge has 60 days after trial to enter a ruling. Not all judges will take the max amount of time allowed. However, it generally takes a month or so before a ruling will be issued.

Adding It All Up

As you can see, due to the timelines and major milestones in a divorce case, such as the Resolution Management Conference, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Trial, it can take around a year or more for a divorce case to come to a final conclusion.

That being said, keep in mind that it is possible to settle a case at any point during the divorce. This is why I say when you are wondering how long it takes to get a divorce, the answer is it depends on you. Since most cases do end up settling, the question becomes how soon you are able and willing to settle. That will be one of the primary factors that will impact how long it takes to get a divorce.

I hope this article helps if you are wondering how long does it take to get a divorce. If you have other divorce questions or would like to see other topics covered, please contact me. I am happy to respond and help where I can.