How Long Does a Divorce Action Take?

In short

The time changes with service, the investigation, an expert and an appeal. A fixed number of months is not written. The list of conditions is in the article on the uncontested conditions.

The three links that lengthen the calendar are service, the witness and the social inquiry. An incomplete address inflates the first link.

There is no promise of a single hearing in this article.

The volume of the family court in Ankara produces a tempo; it does not change the statutory period.

Related articles: the contested process.

Why can the time not be given with a single figure?

The question how long does a divorce action take arises from an understandable worry; the answer cannot be given with a single number of months or of days. In one file the protocol is ready and the dispute is narrow; in another, custody, maintenance, jewellery and the property regime must be contested together. Even in the same city, even at the same court, files follow a different tempo.

This article is general information prepared to explain the variables that affect the time. A promise of a fixed period cannot be given. The assessment changes according to the features of the concrete event.

The same basic fact also applies at the family courts in Ankara: the time progresses with the scope of the file, the service and the density of the evidence. For the general frame of family law, the family law page can be read.

The difference of time in an uncontested and a contested divorce

The time is closely related to the kind of action.

An uncontested divorce

If the parties have agreed on the divorce and its results, the area of the proceedings can narrow. If the protocol is open, the documents are complete and the statements at the hearing are consistent, the process can progress more plainly. An uncertain protocol, a need for an examination relating to the child, or a problem of service can also lengthen an uncontested file. For the conditions you can look at the article on the conditions of an uncontested divorce.

A contested divorce

On the contested path, the stages of the claim, the answer, the evidence, the witness, and, when necessary, an expert or a social inquiry can be added. Mutual attributions of fault and financial disputes widen the file. A widening scope means more hearings and more waiting time.

While a time plan is made in a contested divorce, these questions are useful: which claims will really be proved? How many witnesses will be heard? Will the jewellery or the property regime be conducted in the same file, or separately? Is there a need for a temporary arrangement relating to the child? The answers given to these questions offer a more realistic frame than a memorised average time. Inflating the file with claims that are weak in proof and emotional often does not shorten the process; it lengthens it.

Requests that join in the same file

The decision of divorce, and the requests for maintenance, custody or division of property, can join in the same action. As the scope widens, the time is also affected. Sometimes the separate conduct of the divorce judgment and of the liquidation of the property regime can also be in question; in this case the total legal process cannot be reduced to the calendar of a single file.

The main factors that lengthen the time

These elements produce delay most often in practice:

• Problems of service: a wrong address, service abroad, a change of address
• An incomplete document and uncertain requests: completion memoranda, adjourned hearings
• The density of witnesses and of evidence: more than one hearing, processes of summons and of hearing
• Examinations relating to the child: a social-inquiry report, a temporary arrangement of custody and of personal contact
• Financial disputes: jewellery, a contribution claim, valuation of immovable property, claims of concealing income
• Interim decisions and objections: temporary arrangements such as interim maintenance and interim custody
• The legal remedy: the appeal application and the period of examination
• The court's workload: the intervals between hearings, and the periods of waiting for a report

Caution: a statement contrary to the truth, or an incomplete one, so that the time shortens, can give birth to heavier results. Speed does not hold the place of procedure and of proof.

The stages of the legal process

In a typical divorce file the time is shaped by the total of these stages:

1. Determination of the kind of action (uncontested or contested) and of the requests
2. Bringing the action at the competent family court
3. Service, and the time for an answer
4. Notification of the evidence, a summons of documents, an examination if necessary
5. Hearings and interim decisions (interim maintenance, temporary custody, and the like)
6. The decision on the merits
7. An appeal, if there is one, and finality
8. Civil-registry transactions, and enforcement proceedings if necessary

Each stage can produce additional time inside itself. A problem of service is enough by itself to lengthen the process. If collection of maintenance comes onto the agenda, the frame of enforcement and bankruptcy law can also create a separate calendar.

How do temporary measures affect the time?

Interim maintenance, or a temporary arrangement of personal contact, can come onto the agenda without waiting for the judgment on the merits. This arranges the parties' daily life; it does not automatically speed the ending date of the action on the merits. An objection to interim decisions, or problems of application, can give birth to additional time.

Stage nuances in planning the calendar

Although the question of time is often asked in the form how many months, the more correct question in practice is this: at which stage can what kind of waiting arise? The nuances below help to keep the planning realistic without giving a fixed figure.

The intervals between hearings and the transaction periods are different

The next hearing day the court gave may not mean the file progressed. If the application of an interim decision, the entry of a report on the file, or the completion of service is being awaited, the time in between is in fact a waiting period, not a transaction period. Seeing this separation softens the expectation of the calendar.

An examination relating to the child can form a separate line

When a social inquiry or a similar assessment is asked for, a waiting line parallel to the proceedings on the merits can arise. Adjournment of the hearing before the report arrives is a practice that is often seen. The scope of the examination, the persons to be interviewed, and the court's asking an additional question after the report affect the time. The supervision of the child's interest progresses independently of the pressure that it should end quickly.

Financial disputes can inflate the main calendar

If headings such as jewellery, a contribution claim or valuation of immovable property stay in the same file, the burden of evidence and of an expert increases. Sometimes the separate conduct of these disputes can come onto the agenda; in that case the ending dates of the divorce judgment and of the financial process do not coincide. Reducing the total legal burden to the calendar of a single file can be misleading.

The date of the decision and the date of finality should be thought of separately

The reading of the decision on the merits is not always the end of the legal process. The periods of the legal remedy, the service, and the appeal examination if there is one, postpone finality. Following of finality is required for the civil registry and for some transactions of application. The moment the decision came out and the moment the process closed may therefore not be the same day.

Whom does it concern?

• Spouses who are thinking of divorce, or who have brought an action
• Parents who are looking for a temporary arrangement in marriages with children
• Parties who want to reflect the uncertainty of the time onto their plans of work, of housing and of finance
• Those who are close to the uncontested path and are preparing a protocol
• Those who are building an evidence strategy in a contested file

While time planning is made, not only how long does the court take, but also service, the report, the appeal and the transactions after the decision should be taken into account.

Points to watch

• A promise that it ends in X months may not be realistic
• An incomplete protocol can lengthen an uncontested file
• A social inquiry relating to the child can give birth to additional time
• Mutual accusations increase the burden of evidence
• The appeal stage should be planned separately
• An action brought at a court without jurisdiction can create delay
• Leaving the division of property for later can lengthen the total process

Approaches that can help to shorten the time (not a guarantee)

• Writing the requests clearly and documented from the start
• Keeping the address and the contact information current
• Maturing the protocol in headings that are close to an agreement
• Not inflating the file with unnecessary claims whose proof is weak
• Building an applicable calendar in the arrangements relating to the child

These approaches can help to simplify the time; they are not a guarantee of a result or of a calendar.

The time after the decision: finality and application

The court's giving a decision on the merits can be the moment the parties think it ended; the calculation of the legal time often does not end here. While a plan of work, of housing or of finance is made, taking into account not only the day of the decision, but also the window of finality and of application, is more realistic.

The legal remedy and finality

If an appeal application is made, finality is postponed. Even if an application is not made, the expiry of the service and of the periods is followed. In civil-registry or enforcement transactions made before finality, a risk of a missing step can arise. The decision text, the service papers and the periods should therefore be followed together. If the appeal gives birth to a reversal or to a retrial, the calculation of the time tied to the first-instance decision opens again; the earlier assumption of an approximate ending can remain invalid.

The dimension of maintenance and of enforcement

Non-payment of interim maintenance, or of maintenance in the judgment, can start a separate process of collection. This process progresses independently of the trial calendar of the divorce action. If the protocol or the judgment is not open, the enforcement stage can also lengthen. For the detailed frame, the page on enforcement and bankruptcy law can be looked at.

The effect on the time of the application relating to the child

Claims of a breach of personal contact, problems of delivery, or disputes on a temporary arrangement can lead to additional applications even while the action on the merits continues. These applications do not directly end the main file; they increase the parties' total legal burden and the time. Building an applicable calendar can help to reduce the additional processes that will arise later.

The related legislation and the practice

The divorce provisions of the Turkish Civil Code, and the rules relating to the procedure of trial of the family courts, are a pointer in this field. The periods of the legal remedy are subject to the provisions of procedure. In judicial practice there is no single-type standard relating to the time; the focus is often a trial in accordance with the procedure, the proof, and the child's interest.

In the practice in Ankara, the volume of the court is a practical variable; it does not change the statutory frame. It is ordinary that different files on the same subject progress at different tempos. The current legislation and the conditions of the file should be taken into account together.

While time planning is made, not only the first hearing day, but also service, the report, the interim decision, the appeal and the transactions after the decision should be taken into account. The honest answer to the question how long does it take is often the list of the variables, not a single figure.

How the time record is read

The time is read from the links of service, of the evidence and of the legal remedy, without being tied to a single calendar. The office being in Çankaya does not change the competent authority. A fixed calendar is not built in this heading either; the tempo is read from the stages in the record.

Conclusion

The time of a divorce action changes according to whether it is uncontested or contested, the state of the evidence, the examinations relating to the child, the service, and the appeal if there is one. Subjects close to an agreement can simplify the process; contest and the density of the evidence can lengthen it. Finality and application after the decision are also included in the total time.

This text is for general information. The legal process can differ according to the features of the event; a promise of a fixed period cannot be given.

For the comprehensive frame you can look at the family law page, and for the conditions at the article on the conditions of an uncontested divorce. If collection arising from maintenance or from the protocol comes onto the agenda, the page on enforcement and bankruptcy law can help.