One of the first questions people ask when facing a divorce in Suffolk or Nassau County is how long the process will take. When both spouses agree on every issue, an uncontested divorce can wrap up in a few months. A contested divorce, where disagreements over custody, support or property remain unresolved, follows a longer and less predictable path. Most contested cases on Long Island take anywhere from one year to 18 months, though complex situations can stretch beyond that.
How the process moves through the courts
A contested divorce in New York follows a structured sequence. After one spouse files and serves the divorce papers, the other has 20 to 30 days to respond. From there, the court assigns a judge and schedules a preliminary conference within 45 days after the case begins.
At that conference, the judge sets deadlines for exchanging financial documents, identifies the disputed issues and establishes a discovery schedule. New York court rules set a six-month discovery target for standard cases and up to 12 months for complex ones, though extensions beyond those timelines are common.
What causes delays
Several factors can push a contested divorce well past the one-year mark:
- High-value assets like businesses, pensions or investment properties require professional appraisals that take time to complete
- Custody evaluations, where a mental health professional assesses both parents and the children, can add months to the timeline
- Disputes over financial disclosure slow the process when one spouse fails to produce documents on time
- Busy court calendars in Suffolk and Nassau counties can push hearing dates back by weeks
Even when both sides want to move quickly, a single unresolved issue can stall progress across the entire case.
What happens at trial
If the spouses cannot settle, the case goes to trial. A typical divorce trial in New York takes three to five court dates. Cases that involve both custody and financial disputes often last six to eight dates. After trial, the judge issues a decision and enters the final judgment of divorce with the county clerk.
Why many cases settle before trial
Despite the length of a contested case, most divorces in New York resolve before trial. The preliminary conference, compliance conferences and pretrial conferences all create opportunities for negotiation. Many couples also turn to mediation during the process. Settling gives both sides more control over the outcome and avoids the cost and unpredictability of leaving the decision to a judge.