o long as at least one spouse has lived in Connecticut for one year, you can initiate a divorce action. Once a divorce suit is filed, there is a mandatory case management date scheduled for 90 days at which time each party presents documents about financial holdings and temporary child custody arrangements to the court. If parties are prepared to finalize their divorce on that date, they may do so as well.
If parties reach agreement before the case management date, a motion to waive the 90 day statutory period can be filed wherein a judge will review the settlement documents to ensure same are fair and equitable by the standards of Connecticut law.
Thus, the best-case scenario is that it could take as little as a few weeks to approximately 90 days to obtain a divorce.
When there are disputes over property division or child custody arrangements, then the parties must proceed through the divorce process until such time as either an agreement on all issues is reached or a trial is held. Depending on the jurisdiction, it can take a year or more for a contested divorce to reach conclusion.
One increasingly-popular option to speed-up that timeline is divorce mediation, wherein couples desiring to work amicably to arrange their financial matters and child custody arrangements can wrap up their divorce settlement documents in a relatively short period of time.
Most cases eventually settle, but the back-and-forth of negotiations and litigation steps can last many months and cost a significant amount.
Capable representation can grease the wheels so that the divorce process goes more smoothly and ends more advantageously for you. If you are contemplating a Connecticut divorce, and you want the process to go as efficiently as possible, you should consider working with Attorney Carmina K. Hirsch. Hirsch Legal, LLC is one of Connecticut’s experienced divorce and family law practices, serving clients in New Haven and throughout Fairfield County (Danbury, Trumbull, Monroe, Bridgeport, Milford, Waterbury). We are here for you!