How long does an uncontested divorce take to be finalized in Ohio?

Answer 1

This really depends on your specific circumstances.

It can take anywhere from a single day to several weeks to complete the paperwork yourself or have an attorney's office prepare it for you. Once your initial Complaint for Divorce and Summons to Respond are prepared, you file them with the court.

If your spouse lives on island, you can then contact the Sheriff to have them served. At this point, when they are served is completely out of your hands.

If your spouse lives off-island, you must file a Motion for Service by Mail, or a similar motion for Notification by Publication. Depending on how backlogged the courts are, these motions can take up to two weeks to be granted. Once your motion is granted, you must either send your spouse a file-stamped copy of the Complaint and the Summons (and Notice to Attend Kids First if you two have children together) via Certified Mail, Signature Required and Restricted Delivery, or make notification in a publication local to their last known address.

If your spouse signs for the Certified Mail, they have 20 days in which to respond by filing their own papers with the court, either agreeing with the complaint or contesting the divorce/information contained in the complaint. Similarly, they have 20 days from the last date of publication (typically it must run for 7+ consecutive days) to respond to the court. If they refuse to sign for the mail delivery, you then proceed with getting an order for notification by publication.

Once the 20 days has passed, if they have not responded to your petition, you may then proceed with the divorce. You will file your own Income and Expense Statement, Asset and Debt Statement, a notarized Statement of Plaintiff stating that no response has been made by your spouse, and a Divorce Decree.

Once you file these with the court, they will place your documents in a package and give you the package number. Your court date will be assigned based on this number (mine was N-6, they appear to run alphabetically and numerically); basically your hearing will be on the same date as everyone else's whose paperwork is in your package. You will not be notified of this date right away but will have to check back to find out when your assigned date is. Depending on the backlog, your date could be as quickly as a week or two to 6-8 weeks away. You may check the Hawai'i judiciary website and search court records to find out when your hearing date is, or you may go to the courthouse and check the Disposition Calendar.

Assuming that all of your paperwork is in order, what you have asked for in the Complaint and final Decree seems reasonable under community property laws, and your spouse did not file a response without serving you (which is illegal, but still check with the records clerk before filing your paperwork, they can provide you with a copy of all the documents filed in a case), the judge should grant your divorce on your hearing date. On that date, your divorce is then final.

Be aware that Hawai'i law allows the judge to grant the divorce pending submission of additional documentation, paperwork, etc. If s/he feels you did not make every reasonable effort to contact your spouse, for example, your divorce may be delayed or even denied, so be sure to take all appropriate steps and retain all documentation for your efforts, such as receipts.

My divorce was not by default; my spouse signed all of the paperwork I gave him; however, to give you a general timeline, I filed my original complaint on 16 July 2009. Because my spouse was moving off-island, we arranged to be able to attend Kids First, the state-required parenting class, a few days later by simply calling and asking to do so. We filed our remaining papers (Asset and Debt statements, child support worksheets, etc.) on 23 July 2009. Our divorce was final on 28 Aug 2009.

Answer 2

IN Hawaii THERE IS A 21 DAY WAITING PERIOD AFTER FILING THE DIVORCE. USUALLY WITH UNCONTESTED DIVORCES IT IS ABOUT 1 TO 2 WEEKS AFTER THAT.

Answer 3

30 days