How Long Could a Divorce Take in North Carolina?

Most people wonder how long their divorces will take. If you are wondering the same thing, it is important to be realistic. Although you might not want to hear this, your divorce could take a very long time. You may need to prepare yourself for a lengthy process that saps away at your energy or even your sanity. This line of thinking may seem overly pessimistic, but it is something that many spouses have experienced firsthand over the years. How long could a North Carolina divorce really take? What is the worst-case scenario?

In other states, law firms might tell spouses that their divorces could take “a year or longer.” In North Carolina, your divorce will always take at least a year to conclude. This is because the Tar Heel State enforces a mandatory, one-year “cooling off” period that is almost impossible to circumvent. Family courts believe that spouses should take at least a year to think things over before they commit to ending their marriages. This logic is that this will reduce the burden on the public court system while occasionally keeping families together.

Of course, the one-year separation period often comes as unwelcome news to spouses who are absolutely sure they no longer want to be together. Spouses might be just as frustrated to learn that other states have much shorter separation periods. In fact, some states have no separation periods whatsoever.

The worst-case scenario is a divorce that takes not just one, but many years to complete. This is certainly within the realms of possibility, especially if you go through a litigated divorce. Also known as a “divorce trial,” a litigated divorce occurs through the public court system. Because this involves resolving your disputes in front of a judge, the divorce process becomes more complex, time-consuming, and expensive. There are formal rules to follow, mandatory requirements, and considerable paperwork.

So, how long could this process take? For reference, you might want to consider a few particularly time-consuming celebrity divorces. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s divorce from Maria Shriver took 10 years to finalize. The divorce of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie took eight years to complete. Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan took six years to get divorced. This gives you an idea of how long a particularly contentious divorce can take.

These celebrity divorces have many things in common. First, they inherently involve high-net-worth individuals with many complex assets. The more assets you have, the longer you will need to spend while dividing everything. Particularly complex assets like fine art, collectibles, stocks, crypto, and retirement accounts lead to months of back-and-forth. Commingled assets may require the attention of forensic accountants.

Child custody disputes may also add years to your divorce, and many of the aforementioned divorces involved these kinds of legal battles. Spouses might accuse each other of serious misconduct, such as child abuse or neglect. The court must then explore these allegations in more detail, and this might involve various evidence and witness testimony.

If a spouse is particularly intent on making a divorce drag on for as long as possible, they may employ various “stalling tactics.” This might involve filing constant motions, making frivolous requests for meaningless documents, and negotiating in bad faith. While stalling tactics often lead to serious penalties for guilty spouses, they can still make a divorce last much longer than normal.

While litigation is sometimes impossible to avoid, spouses should always consider alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a first step. If this process is successful, you can resolve your divorce within the one-year separation period, bringing the overall timeline down to the absolute minimum. Ask a lawyer about options like mediation or collaborative law.

Although there are many ways to speed up a North Carolina divorce, sometimes your only option is a time-consuming and stressful trial. If there is no other way to end your marriage, you might as well settle in and prepare yourself for the legal battle ahead. The mandatory one-year separation period in North Carolina is an ideal time to prepare yourself for this process and strategize as best you can. Contact a law firm that has litigation experience. Better yet, consider whether you can convince your ex to try mediation or collaborative law instead. Expand on this conversation by reaching out to Arnold & Smith, PLLC, today.