The soonest a divorce can be final is six months and a day from the date the respondent is served with the petition. However, the divorce is not automatically final after this six-month period. A divorce can only become final once a judgment is entered. In other words, the parties have agreed to all terms or the court has ruled on all of the terms. A judgment will encompass all issues and contain all orders. The Six month timeframe is only realistic if parties can come to a settlement and agree on all terms very soon after filing the petition. If there are a lot of contested issues, and discovery, and court litigation is necessary, it can take much longer than six months to finalize the divorce. In a long drawn-out dissolution, an option is to bifurcate the status of the parties, before the dissolution is final. In other words, to request that the court terminate the status of the marriage before the trial.
If you have any questions about spousal support or need legal advice in the family law realm, please contact the Law Office of Laurel Peniche Gartman at (714) 283-2811.
As a Certified Family Law Specialist, Laurel Peniche Gartman has been practicing Family Law for over 28 years in Orange County California.
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