The Los Angeles divorce courts are under some severe strain right now. With budget cuts, layoffs and court closures, we are really seeing an impact on the level of service we are getting from the courts.
What we are finding is that the California divorce cases are taking much longer than they did in the past.
We are not just talking about cases that go to trial and have to see a judge, we are talking about your everyday uncontested divorce cases with self represented divorce clients that never step foot in the court room.
We are specifically talking about the time it takes for the court to review and approve a final judgment in a divorce case.
When you are representing yourself in your divorce, it is just a matter of getting the paperwork through the system. The final judgment is the last thing that you submit to the court.
The process of the court reviewing and approving the final judgment has always been long, however we are seeing a steady increase in the time it takes to review the divorce judgments.
First it was 3 months, then four. Now we are seeing it routinely take 6 months and longer. Now with the layoffs still so fresh from happening, I bet we will see even longer delays.
This can be a frustrating process. Especially for those folks that have attempted to do their entire divorce on their own. They are submitting them, only have it rejected 6 months later when they have completely forgotten about it an assumed everything was fine. Especially since they did not hear anything for so long.
We recommend (if time is a concern) that you submit your final divorce judgment just as soon as you have completed all the paperwork for your divorce.
You don’t have to wait 6 months before submitting your divorce case for final approval.
You can submit your case within 30 days of your spouse being served (if you are doing a default or hybrid style divorce) or immediately if going by way of uncontested divorce.
You case is going to sit in a pile of other divorce judgment in line for review anyway. You might as well get your case in line as early as possible.
