Originally posted by: dullard
The divorce process, however, often takes months. Many states have minimum mandatory waiting periods.
No kidding. Went through it this year. Here in NC, you cannot even file for divorce until one full year of separation. "Separation" here basically refers to when both spouses chose to live separately from each other. If at some point during that year, you wound up in bed together for a night, the year wait starts over unless you both lie on the forms. My full year of separation ended on May 20, 2006. At that point, I had go to the courthouse and fill out some papework, pay my fee ($150) and issue for papers for to be served. In my county, they have up to 60 days to serve papers. For me, it took about 45 days before they were actually served. From that date, I had to wait a mandantory 30 days before I could go back to the courthouse and get my court date. That was around the middle of July. Then at that point, I got my court date which was another 3-4 weeks away. And if it's not contested by the other spouse, then only after all of this is your divorce granted. And if you screw up on any date within all of the very lengthy forms, it can all be toss out the window and you have to get another court date.
In a nutshell, it took me from May 20th to August 3rd to have my divorce finalized, after a full year of separation. It's not easy but that's a good thing because it certainly gives you time to do everything you can to save the marriage or at least realize that it wasn't meant to be. Too bad that they don't make it just as hard to get married. Maybe the divorce rate wouldn't be so high if they did. IMO, too many couples get married before truly knowing the other person. You may think you know them but it takes a LONG time to fully understand your compatibilities and incompatibilities, once the novelty of the relationship wears off.