Waiting period for a divorce – how long does a divorce take?

Within the meaning of the provisions of Section 30 of the Civil Procedure Code for Non-Adversarial Matters (hereinafter referred to as the “CMP”): „After the initiation of the proceedings, the court shall proceed in cooperation with the other subjects of the proceedings so that the matter is heard and decided in the shortest possible time.“

The length of time from the filing of the petition for divorce to the scheduling of the first hearing in the matter will vary depending on the relevant court and its workload.

As we have already mentioned multiple times, the petitioner must pay a court fee before the first hearing is held. In order to accelerate the entire process, we recommend attaching e-stamps in the value of the court fee, i.e., in the value of €100, along with the petition. Otherwise, the court will issue a written request to the petitioner to pay the court fee, and the proceedings may be prolonged by a few weeks.

Similarly, the court sends the delivered petition for divorce to the other party for a statement, setting a time limit for them to respond. This time limit is at the discretion of the judge (a so-called judicial time limit), but in practice, we have encountered it being approximately 10 days. The court usually requests the other party to comment in writing on the petition for the initiation of proceedings, to truthfully and completely describe the decisive facts, to attach the documents they refer to, and to indicate evidence to prove their allegations. At the same time, the court instructs the party that the statement must be delivered to the court in the required number of duplicates so that each party receives one copy.

In the event that the exercise of parental rights and obligations for the time after the divorce towards a minor child is also regulated in the proceedings, the court shall, even before scheduling the hearing, appoint a conflict-of-interest guardian (Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family) for the minor child by a resolution. An appeal (sťažnosť) is admissible against this resolution issued by a court officer, which must be filed within 15 days from the day of delivery. It is thus necessary to wait for the subject resolution to become final and effective. If, by chance, any of the parties objects to the appointment of the conflict-of-interest guardian and files an appeal, the timeline will be prolonged again.

The proceedings can also be longer if one of the parties does not pick up their mail. In this case, the documents from the court are stored at the post office for several days, and the matter continues only after the delivery receipt (doručenka) is returned to the court. However, according to Section 31 of the CMP, the court continues the proceedings even if the party remains inactive.

After carrying out all necessary procedural acts, the court schedules a hearing. Within the meaning of Section 33 of the CMP: „The court shall summon the parties and everyone whose presence is necessary to the hearing; the summons shall be delivered in such a way that they have sufficient time for preparation, as a rule, at least five days before the day when the hearing is to take place.“

The overall length of the judicial proceedings is also influenced by the fact of whether minor children come from the marriage, as proceedings for the divorce of a marriage are also combined with proceedings for the regulation of the spouses’ relations to their minor children for the time after the divorce, which naturally prolongs the total time of the proceedings.

In the event that there are no minor children in the marriage and there is no need to address custody and child support, the marriage can be dissolved as early as the first hearing. If the spouses waive their right to file an appeal at the hearing, the spouses are validly divorced on the very day of the hearing.

Divorce within 24 hours?

Given the legal regulation of marriage divorce under the conditions of the Slovak Republic, it can be stated with certainty that a divorce within 24 hours is a fiction. Only a court can validly dissolve a marriage. For the purpose of hearing the petition for divorce with the parties to the proceedings, the court may schedule a hearing. Given the volume of procedural acts on the part of the court and the petitioners, we consider it almost impossible for a court to decide on a divorce within 24 hours from the delivery of the petition (application) for divorce.

In some cases, the court may decide even without ordering a hearing if both parties request it and there are no disagreements, for example, regarding property or minor children. However, this still does not guarantee a divorce within 24 hours, as the waiting period depends to a large extent on the workload of the court.

How long does one wait for a court hearing?

The length of the wait for a court hearing in a divorce matter depends on several factors, such as the workload of the specific relevant court, the place where the petition was filed, and the complexity of the case. In practice, the time for scheduling the first hearing can range from a few months to one year.

To speed up the entire process, it is important that all fees, such as the court fee in the amount of €100 (Item No. 7 letter a) of the Schedule of Court Fees, which is an annex to Act No. 71/1992 Coll. on Court Fees and the Fee for an Extract from the Criminal Record), are paid right when filing the petition. The court may also (but does not have to!) decide without a hearing if both parties request it, which can significantly simplify the whole process.

How long does a court hearing last?

The duration of a court hearing is individual and difficult to estimate precisely. In a divorce, the length of the hearing depends primarily on the complexity of the case and on whether other issues, such as the care of minor children or property settlement, are also being addressed.

The hearing itself may last only a few dozen minutes, provided that all necessary evidence and documents are in order and both sides agree to the terms of the divorce. The court usually asks about the reasons for the breakdown of the marriage and decides on the basis of the submitted evidence. In the event of disputes or the need to supplement further information, the hearing may be extended to several hours or it may be adjourned.

If you want to speed up the whole process, it is important that all documents are submitted correctly and on time. It can also help if both parties agree on the terms of the divorce; in such a case, the court will not have to expend unnecessary effort to clarify whether „the relations between the spouses are so seriously disrupted and permanently broken that the marriage cannot fulfill its purpose and the restoration of marital cohabitation cannot be expected from the spouses (Section 23 (1) of the Family Act).“

What is the time limit for preparing for a hearing in divorce proceedings?

If the court decides that it is appropriate to order a hearing in the divorce matter: „the court shall summon the parties and everyone whose presence is necessary to the hearing; the summons shall be delivered in such a way that they have sufficient time for preparation, as a rule, at least 5 days before the day when the hearing is to take place (Section 33 (2) of Act No. 161/2015 Coll. the Civil Procedure Code for Non-Adversarial Matters).“

Our law firm can help you, among other things, with the preparation of a petition for the divorce of a marriage and with legal representation throughout the entire proceedings.