How long can divorce proceedings take?

The break-up of a marriage is usually an unpleasant and unwanted moment. Especially when there are children. However, it is also unavoidable in most cases when living together is not possible. But how long does divorce take? This is a difficult question to answer, as it depends on many factors. However, here we want to analyse them all.

Divorce by mutual consent without children

This is undoubtedly the simplest, quickest and most economical scenario. The reasons are many and varied, but the main ones have to do with the fact that both can share a lawyer and the process can be carried out before a notary.

The only requirement laid down in the Civil Code is that the couple has been married for at least 3 months. Subsequently, they will have to draw up an agreement on the basis of the criteria set out in article 90 of the Civil Code:

• Distribution of the common property, dissolution of the community of property and liquidation. Here it should be explained how the home and the family trousseau are to be attributed and the burdens associated with the assets (taxes, duties and mortgage payments).
• Compensatory pension. Only in the event that one of the parties is financially harmed by the divorce. Here the provisions of Article 97 of the Civil Code must be taken into account.

This agreement must be written by a lawyer who will then process it through a notary. To make it effective, all that is required is that the notary certifies that the agreement is fair and that both spouses declare their willingness to divorce before the notary.

If this procedure is used, the divorce will become effective within a few weeks.

How long does an uncontested divorce with children take?

In this case, the execution of the divorce may take about 3 months. The main reason for this is that, if there are minor children or children subject to a special protection condition, it is not possible to carry it out before a notary. Not even if there is an agreement between the spouses.

As in the previous case, the two spouses can share a lawyer if they wish to do so. However, as this is a court proceeding, they must also engage the services of a solicitor.

The lawyer will be in charge of drafting the agreement which, in addition to the above, must also include the custody, visiting and communication arrangements for the children. This should include the grandparents and other close relatives who do not reside in the family home.

With the agreement, the lawsuit will be filed in the corresponding court. Subsequently, it will be supervised by the Public Prosecutor's Office and by the judge in order to verify that it is fair and preserves the rights of the minors. 

Contentious divorce

It is possible that one of the partners in a marriage may want to divorce, but the other does not. According to the Civil Code, anyone can dissolve the union by simply expressing a desire to do so. The problem is that, in the absence of understanding, one has to go to court, which is a much longer and more costly process.

How long does it take to file for divorce?

To initiate divorce proceedings, it is necessary for one of the spouses, with the help of a lawyer hired by him or her, to file a lawsuit. This is a mandatory step.

But how long does it take to serve a complaint? This depends on one main factor: whether or not the other spouse has a known address. If he or she has an address, it usually takes about a week to receive it. If not, the applicant spouse's lawyer will have to ask the judge to initiate an enquiry procedure, which can take several weeks.

Once an address for service has been found, the other spouse has 20 working days to respond to the application. Holidays, weekends and the whole month of August do not count.

Preview and final view

Once the other spouse has replied to the application, the judge will convene a preliminary hearing. The average time is usually between 6 and 8 weeks. At this hearing, each party will have to present the evidence he or she wishes to present. We are talking about, for example, psychosocial examinations or statements of the children.

Once this phase is over, the judge will convene the final hearing. The fundamental problem is that its holding will depend on the workload of the court in question. This is a totally uncontrollable factor. It can take years in some cases, depending on the complexity of the case.

How long does it take to get a divorce decree after the divorce has been ratified?

To answer the question of how long it takes to obtain a divorce decree, we can extract data from the Ministry of Justice for the year 2020. In that year, the average was 12 months. More specifically:

• 19.5% of the cases were resolved in less than 6 months.
• 43.5% of cases took between 6 and 11 months.
• The remaining 37% took more than 12 months.

As we can see, almost 4 out of 10 contentious divorce cases take more than a year. Now that we know how long it takes for a final judgment to be issued, we need to explain the ratification period. This will occur once both parties have been notified. This is normally within 20 working days from the date of the judgment. However, it also depends on the workload of the court in question.

In short, we now know how long it takes for a contentious divorce judgment to be issued. At least approximately, since as we have seen there are many factors that can influence it. It is also clear that, whenever possible, we should try to reach an agreement with the other party. This will speed up the process considerably and save both the spouses and their children a lot of suffering.