How Long Does It Take to Complete a Divorce in Dupage County?

 Posted on April 14, 2020 in Uncategorized

That’s another very common question we get asked a lot, and it’s another one that can vary greatly from case to case. There are a lot of factors involved in the length of your case, but the primary factor relates to the level of agreement between the parties. If the parties are largely in agreement on most issues, then the case can be over quite quickly. In a situation where the parties have come to complete agreement, and they just need a lawyer to memorialize this in a settlement agreement and make sure the parties have addressed all issues required by statute, the case can be completed expediently, often times in 60-90 days.

On the flip side, if there are some issues that are outstanding, and that have to be brought before the court, the case can drag out for some time. This is because the court system is designed to be fair, not fast. With court filings everything has deadlines and time periods. Once a motion is filed on an issue, then the other side is given time to file a response, and then a hearing is set. The timeline for a single motion can easily be over a month or longer from initial filing to resolution. If parties find themselves in a position where they do not agree on much of anything, this can cause a divorce to go on for quite some time if numerous issues have to be brought to the judge for resolution.

Another thing that can come into play is the attorneys in the case. We take more of a cooperative approach and try to work things out outside of court and discuss things with opposing counsel, and attempt to drive matters to a reasonable conclusion. However, there are attorneys out there who feel the need to contest every issue and try to “win” on every minor detail, which can cause issues to need to be brought before the court that otherwise would not.