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The thought of going through another holiday season with your spouse or their family may make you consider filing for divorce.  If you have children, you should probably wait until after Christmas to file for divorce.  If you do not have children, frankly it really does not make much difference whether you file now or wait until after the holiday season.

The Divorce Process Is Designed By The Michigan Legislature To Be A Slow Process.

The Michigan legislature still considers divorce to be against public policy, so it has intentionally made the divorce process slow.  If you have children, there is a six-month waiting period from the time you file for divorce until a judge should allow you to actually get divorced.  In any case, regardless of whether you have only been married one week, there is still a sixty-day waiting period between the date you filed for divorce and the date the court can actually grant you a divorce.  Typically, most divorces last longer than these time periods anyway as many cases require some form of discovery, then negotiation or mediation to reach an agreement and then the preparation of the documents that are required by the State of Michigan to complete a divorce in this state.  If you go to trial, there is no telling how long the case may take.  The actual trial is usually done one day or one-half of a day at a time in court spread out over a number of months, so that many divorces which go to trial can take a year to two years to get finished.

If you are concerned about filing for taxes jointly and whether filing before the end of the year may change your tax filing status that is not a problem. The Internal Revenue Service will allow you to file a joint tax return until the time as the actual judgment of divorce is signed by the judge and entered in the court.   So for instance if you file for divorce in 2024 but do not actually get divorced until 2025, then you may still file jointly for 2024 but not for 2025.  

Given the relatively slow nature of the divorce process, generally if you do not have children, then it does not make much difference whether you file now or wait until after Christmas to file unless you are dying to get away from your spouse as soon as possible.  If you do have children, then it is probably better to wait until at least after Christmas, if not until after the New Year.  This blog is written to very generally address the issue of whether one should wait until after the Christmas or holiday season to file a complaint for divorce in the State of Michigan, if you have specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact us to schedule an appointment by clicking on this link or calling (248) 608-4123.