Ideally you would want to take as much time as you need to complete you divorce. There are so many areas of your life that are impacted, and will be impacted so it is not something you want to be rushed into, or rushed through.
You can start the divorce mediation at any time during your divorce, however if you have already filed for divorce then a clock has started ticking due to deadlines and statistical goals that the courts have when it comes to divorce.
The court understands that divorcing couples need time to work through everything, but that does not mean that they will leave it up to you to set the schedule of how long you can take to complete the divorce process. In Connecticut, the Judicial Branch sets a deadline of one year for divorces, meaning, with some exception, they want the divorce to be concluded in less than a year from the time the papers are filed to the date the divorce becomes final. Partially because they have statistical benchmarks that they want to meet, but they also understand (and I agree) that the longer a case drags on the more contested it gets. The more contested it gets the more contact is needed with the court. This creates a greater drain on the couples financial resources, and time resources, and the court has to use more of its resources to deal with the case as it gets older.
So like I said earlier you could decide that you want to start the divorce process at anytime after your paperwork has been filed, but if you do, you should start sooner rather than later to minimize pressures and restricted freedom imposed by the court’s desire to have the divorce completed within in a certain period of time.
You can avoid this entirely by beginning your divorce mediation before you file for divorce. By doing this you are in complete control of how much time you need to work through your divorce. There is no imposed time limits from the court. Once completed, the courts involvement will be minimized and your exposure to the court will be limited to filing the paperwork and then coming in for your final hearing.
At Success Mediation we understand that your time is important. Our expertise can help you resolve your disputes and come to an agreement on how to dissolve your marriage, on your schedule, at your pace.
N. Gladsone Brown is the owner of the Law Office of N. Gladstone Brown, a law firm specializing in divorce mediation, and family law, and one of his favorite snacks is Twinkies. To Lean more click here.
