Divorces take time. While certain elements are required by law, others can be optional.
Sometimes people file for divorce to punish their partner and increase attorney fees and hide assets.
Procedural Delays
Even if both you and your spouse agree on all aspects of a divorce, legal requirements and procedures can cause delays. Filing necessary documents can take time; scheduling hearings or court appearances also takes considerable planning.
Some spouses intentionally postpone their cases to gain financial or custody advantages. Anger, spite, or the desire to keep the marriage intact could all play a part in these strategies.
Your lawyer has various strategies available to them in order to overcome deliberate obstacles to your divorce proceedings, such as subpoenaing financial records to reveal hidden assets and income; scheduling periodic status conferences with the court to keep your spouse accountable; bifurcation can separate out dissolving your marriage from other issues in your case so as to make resolution easier; ultimately taking proactive measures early on and setting realistic goals can minimize unnecessary delays – something an experienced Phoenix divorce lawyer can assist with.
Court Scheduling Issues
In many jurisdictions, there is only a limited number of judges and they typically carry heavy caseloads, making it hard for issues that need to be settled prior to being tried, such as time-sharing and custody disputes, to get hearings quickly in court.
Delays can arise if either spouse is uncooperative with or does not respond promptly to requests for documents or information from their attorney, which can further delay proceedings and become an additional source of frustration and prolong the process.
Dependent upon the nature of each case, there may be other issues that must be resolved, including subpoenaing records or waiting for a forensic accountant’s report to come in. All these extra issues add time and stress to a divorce proceedings; though most people file for a divorce as they want to move on with life more quickly than their marriage. Understanding there are various parts to the legal process which cannot be controlled by clients or attorneys can help ease anxiety caused by lengthy delays.
Conflict Between the Parties
Conflict between spouses often stems from disputes about key divorce-related matters like property division, custody and support – whether due to hostility or simply being unable to communicate effectively enough – meaning many cases become stuck and cannot move forward.
Divorces can often take longer than anticipated due to delays caused by spouses who ask for continuances or break their word, as well as when one partner attempts to conceal assets or run up attorney fees; all this makes the divorce process longer and more time consuming for all involved.
As both parties navigate an emotional period, it’s essential that they work towards finding solutions and working productively together. Hostility and accusations won’t help anyone and could create unnecessary delay; consider rational solutions instead and use your attorney to facilitate communication between yourself and your spouse.
Document Gathering
After you and your spouse decide to divorce, the goal should be a swift resolution of all issues involved in the process – such as assets and debts division, child custody arrangements, spousal support payments and any minor details that arise. Unfortunately, court processes may be more complicated than expected.
As soon as a contested divorce begins, the initial step should be filing an RJI with the Court. Once submitted, this document will schedule a Preliminary Conference before either a Judge or his/her staff attorney referee.
At the RJI, a judge will assess how complex your divorce case is before assigning a discovery schedule for it. Discovery generally involves exchanging documents, interrogatives and depositions as a means of gathering information – which in complex divorce cases could take months to complete alone! Therefore it’s crucial that you hire an experienced family law lawyer; an effective one will have a system in place that helps eliminate delays associated with discovery delays.