Divorcing couples face record 39 week delay

Karen Saunders, a Senior Solicitor in Family & Child Care, reports on disappointing figures released recently by the Government.

“One question that clients often ask us at the beginning of a divorce is how long the process will take.  In the past our advice has generally been that a straightforward divorce takes between 5 and 6 months to conclude.

Unfortunately, we have had to reconsider that advice in the light of recent statistics published by the Ministry of Justice that show that the average time from Petition to Decree Absolute is 59 weeks.  This figure is based on the whole country, and our own experience of the Bradford Divorce Centre is that a divorce is still not taking quite as long as that”.

These figures reinforce the advice that our solicitors have had to give to clients that Courts are having to deal with more applications but with less resources and reduced staff.  The increasing delays, which are quite outside our own control, are a direct consequence of this.