Divorce Process | Sabrina Layman

The divorce process in Washington State is a balancing of equities and fairness with the facts of each case. You begin by filing a petition to dissolve your marriage, and you end with an order that grants you independence. It’s called a final divorce order. 

The quickest you can finish a case in Washington State is 90 days after the materials are filed with the court. That’s not a likely time frame, because there’s a lot of balancing between what you want, what the other side wants, and what can be done. 

I always tell people that once you file — if you come to us and we get the case filed — we will walk you through the process of discovery, which is really just the legal way of saying we find out what everything’s worth. At the end, we essentially put your life into a spreadsheet and divide that up. 

The biggest questions people have for me are: How long will it take? How much will it cost? The honest answer is, it depends. It depends on how much you already know, how much participation the other side will have, and how thoughtful the process is. I can’t really tell anyone it will take 180 days or 12 months. But I can tell you we’ll diligently work toward getting your case resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible — not only in terms of time and emotional energy, but financially as well. 

Most of the time, after the first billing cycle, clients become quickly aware that there’s an X factor — the value of resolution. In every case, resolution becomes the most valuable asset. 

So to sum up: we file with a petition, we end with a divorce order, and the period of time in between is somewhat in your control and in the control of the other side.