Mark Tattersall's blog - Chivers Walsh Family Law

The average time for completing divorce proceedings is lengthening. Statistics just released show that it is taking the court system nationally on average 56 weeks to process divorce proceedings. I issue divorce proceedings through Bradford (one of the few current “divorce centres” in the country). I used to advise my clients that it would take between 3 and 4 months to complete the process. About a year ago, because of delay at the court’s end, my advice changed and became that it would take between 7 and 9 months. However, clearly, things could be much worse; there must be parts of the country where it is taking the court staff well over a year to process divorce papers, given the high average and given that my experience of Bradford is that it takes them well under a year (although I still feel that 7 to 9 months is too long). Mark Tattersall, director-solicitor at Chivers Walsh Family Law