The 12 months first
Before you can file anything, Australian law requires you and your spouse to have been separated for at least 12 months and one day. That period is set by the Family Law Act 1975 and the Court cannot waive it, shorten it, or list your application early — not for hardship, not for inconvenience, not because the marriage is clearly over. For almost everyone it is the longest single part of the whole timeline, and there is no workaround.
Separation starts the day the marriage ended in practice — when you stopped living together as a couple, or when one of you communicated clearly that it was over. You can have been separated under one roof; you can have tried to reconcile for a short period without resetting the clock. Once the full 12 months and a day has passed, you're eligible to file. The 12-month separation rule →
What happens after you file
Once we file, the Court date-stamps your application, opens a file, and sends a sealed copy back to us. From that moment you have a hearing to look forward to but no hearing date yet — the Court allocates it.
If yours is a sole application, we also have to serve your spouse and allow them time to respond. If it's a joint application, you've both already signed and service isn't needed, which skips the response window but not the wait for a hearing date.
How hearing dates are actually allocated
Divorce hearings are listed in the order applications are filed — typically a couple of months out, and it varies by registry and by how busy the list is. The date you file fixes your place in the queue. Nobody — not us, not you, not anyone — can pay to jump that queue, and we cannot expedite a hearing because a registrar is away, a wedding is booked, or a visa deadline is looming.
That sounds harsh, but it's the honest answer: the date you file is the only lever you have. The earlier you file once the 12 months is up, the earlier your hearing.
When the order is final
The divorce order is not final on the hearing date. By statute it takes effect one month and one day after the hearing. That extra month is fixed and cannot be shortened. Until it passes you are still legally married and cannot remarry. Read more:
What can add time
- A requisition from the registry — the application goes back to you to fix and loses its place in the list. This is the single biggest avoidable delay.
- Waiting on a marriage certificate you can't find. Lost certificate →
- International service — 42 days before the hearing rather than 28, plus postage. Spouse overseas →
- A substituted service application where your spouse can't be found.
- Your ex filing a Response objecting to the divorce — rare, and usually about the separation date or jurisdiction.
What genuinely saves time
- Having every document ready before your filing date, so we file on day one of eligibility.
- Getting the application right the first time so it isn't requisitioned and doesn't lose its place.
- Starting the marriage-certificate or translation process early — these run in parallel with everything else.
That's the whole of it. We cannot make the Court move faster. What we can do is make sure nothing on our side slows you down — and that's most of the avoidable delay in a divorce application. What it costs →
A plain timeline (separation to final order)
| Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Separation (you wait) | 12 months and one day |
| File the application | Day 0 |
| Hearing allocated and held | ~2 months after filing |
| Divorce order takes effect | One month and one day after the hearing |
| Total — filing to final order | ~4–5 months |
| Total — separation to final order | ~16–17 months |
Times are typical, not guaranteed. The separation and one-month-and-one-day periods are fixed by statute; the hearing wait varies by registry and how busy the list is.
or call 1800 976 214
Two minutes · no obligation · a lawyer confirms everything before anything is filed