How long does it take to complete a divorce?
Posted on January 28, 2019
The average time for completing a divorce appears to be increasing according to figures released by the Ministry of Justice.
According to the MoJ’s latest Family Court Statistics Quarterly, relating to Family Court work between July and September 2018, the time taken on average from Divorce Petition to Decree Nisi was 31 weeks, and the time taken from Divorce Petition to Decree Absolute was 56 weeks. Both of these timescales were up seven weeks compared to the same period in 2017.
In the same period, 66,118 new cases overall were started in the Family Court, up 1% on the equivalent quarter in 2017. This was driven by a 7% rise in matrimonial cases. However, there were decreases in new financial remedy cases (9% drop), public law cases (5% drop), domestic violence cases (4% drop), and adoption cases (4% drop).
The Ministry of Justice report can be accessed via this link.
Karol Kaliczak
Barrister
