Key Takeaways
- The median time to complete a divorce in England and Wales reached 42 weeks in 2025, the longest since records began and up from 29 weeks a decade earlier.
- No-fault divorce, introduced in April 2022 and promoted as a simpler process, has coincided with longer completion times.
- A large part of the increase is built into the law. The mandatory 20-week reflection period lengthens every case by design.
- Court volumes and the time taken to resolve finances and child arrangements account for much of the rest.
No-fault divorce arrived in April 2022 with the promise of a simpler, less combative way to end a marriage. The reform removed the need to assign blame and allowed couples to apply together for the first time. On the question of speed, however, the official figures point in the opposite direction. The typical divorce now takes longer to complete than at any point on record.
The median time from application to final order reached 42 weeks in 2025. A decade earlier, in 2015, the equivalent figure was 29 weeks. Far from accelerating the process, the years since the reform have seen it lengthen to its slowest ever.
This article sets out what the court data shows on divorce timing, why the process has slowed, and how much of the delay is a matter of design rather than backlog.
A decade of lengthening timescales
The team at Osbourne Pinner analysed the Ministry of Justice’s published court data to track how long divorces have taken to complete over time. The direction is consistent.
- The median number of weeks from divorce application to final order stood at 29 in 2015
- By 2023, it had reached 39.1 weeks
- By 2024, it was 41.6 weeks
- And in 2025, it stood at 42.0 weeks
Each recent year has been longer than the last, and 2025 marks the longest median on record.
Median vs mean averages
It’s worth being clear about what the 42-week figure represents. As the median, it’s the midpoint at which half of all divorces have completed and half are still in progress.
The average pulled in the other direction (the mean) sits higher still, at around 68 weeks in 2025. That’s because a smaller number of very long, complex cases drag it upward.
The median is the more representative measure of a typical divorce, and it too now sits well beyond the 26-week legal minimum. The full set of figures appears in the accompanying divorce statistics analysis.
Why has the process slowed?
Three factors explain most of the increase, and the first of them was written into the reform itself.
The 20-week reflection period
When the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 took effect on 6 April 2022, it introduced a mandatory 20-week wait between the start of proceedings and the point at which a conditional order can be applied for. It was designed as a period for reflection and for sorting out practical matters. This applies to every case without exception. By definition, it lengthens the minimum timeline that existed before.
Court volumes
The family courts continue to handle a substantial and sustained caseload. When the volume of applications is high, the time taken to process each stage extends. Naturally, those delays accumulate across the several steps a divorce must pass through.
Finances and child arrangements
The divorce itself runs alongside two separate matters:
- The division of finances
- Where there are children, their living arrangements
These frequently take longer to resolve than the divorce, and many couples sensibly wait until they are settled before applying for the final order. The result is that the recorded time to completion reflects far more than the administrative steps of the divorce alone. The full picture of how these stages fit together is set out in the guide to the divorce process.
The gap between the legal minimum and reality
A divorce in England and Wales can’t be completed in under 26 weeks. That minimum is fixed by the two statutory waiting periods:
- 20 weeks before the conditional order
- A further six weeks and one day before the final order
The 26-week figure is often quoted as though it were the expected duration. The data shows it’s closer to a floor that few reach. At a median of 42 weeks, the typical divorce now takes roughly 60 per cent longer than the statutory minimum. This distinction matters for anyone trying to plan around a divorce, because the legal minimum and the realistic timescale have drifted a long way apart.
Does a joint application make a difference?
The route chosen does affect the pace:
- A sole application requires the respondent to be served with papers and acknowledge them. That step adds time and it can stall if the other party is slow to respond or declines to engage.
- A joint application removes that step entirely, since both parties are applicants from the outset.
For couples who agree the marriage is over, a joint application tends to move through the early stages more smoothly. It doesn’t shorten the mandatory waiting periods, which apply regardless, but it removes one of the more common sources of avoidable delay.
Speak to a divorce and family law solicitor
Understanding the realistic timescale is one of the more useful things to establish at the outset of a divorce, particularly where finances or arrangements for children need to be resolved alongside it.
At Osbourne Pinner, our divorce and family law solicitors advise on each stage of the process, from the initial application through to the financial order, and can help keep matters moving without unnecessary delay.
Please note that this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We always recommend speaking to a qualified divorce solicitor for advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
We also offer a free 30-minute consultation. Appointments are available via video call or in person at our offices in Harrow, Canary Wharf, Piccadilly Circus or Manchester. To arrange a consultation, call 0203 983 5080, email [email protected] or complete the form below. Osbourne Pinner does not offer Legal Aid.
