How Long Does a Divorce Take When My Spouse Won’t Cooperate?

You have made the difficult decision to end your marriage. You are ready to move forward, separate your finances, and establish a stable routine for your children. Unfortunately, your spouse has decided to take a different path. They are not just disagreeing with you; they are actively obstructing the process or refusing to engage altogether.

This is a common scenario in Lee County family law cases. Clients often come to our Auburn office feeling held hostage by a husband or wife who believes that by ignoring the legal paperwork, they can prevent the divorce from happening. Others face a spouse who uses the court system to delay, harass, or drain family resources.

The most important fact you need to know is this: A spouse cannot stop a divorce by refusing to participate. Alabama law does not require both parties to agree to end the marriage. While an obstinate partner can extend the timeline and increase the cost, there are specific legal mechanisms designed to push the case forward to a resolution.

The Initial Delay: Service of Process

The clock on your divorce cannot officially start ticking until your spouse has been “served” with the Complaint for Divorce. This is the first hurdle where an uncooperative spouse can cause delays.

In a cooperative uncontested divorce, the spouse simply signs an essential document acknowledging they received the papers. When cooperation is absent, we must use a process server or the Sheriff’s Department to physically hand the papers to them.

Some spouses go to great lengths to evade service. They may refuse to answer the door, change their work schedule, or stay with friends to avoid being found. If the Lee County Sheriff or a private process server cannot locate them after diligent effort, we must ask the court for permission to use “service by publication.” This involves publishing a notice in a local newspaper for four consecutive weeks. While this effectively starts the legal clock, it adds at least a month or two to the very beginning of the timeline before the case can truly progress.

The “Ghosting” Spouse and Default Judgments

There are two types of uncooperative spouses: the one who fights everything and the one who does absolutely nothing. If your spouse completely ignores the divorce papers after being properly served, they are taking a significant risk that can actually work in your favor.

Under Alabama law, a defendant has 30 days to file a formal Answer after being served. If that 30-day window passes and they have not filed a response, they are in “default.”

At this stage, your attorney can file a Motion for Default Judgment. This effectively asks the judge to grant the divorce on the terms you requested in your initial complaint because the other side failed to show up to defend themselves. While judges prefer cases to be decided on their merits, they will grant default judgments to prevent cases from languishing on the docket forever.

Timeline Impact: If your spouse truly ghosts the process, your divorce could theoretically be finalized in as little as 45 to 60 days after service, following the statutory “cooling off” period. However, courts often move cautiously here to ensure the defendant’s rights were not violated, which may add several weeks to the scheduling of a default hearing.

The “Fighting” Spouse: The Discovery Trap

The more common and frustrating scenario involves a spouse who hires an attorney and files an Answer but then refuses to cooperate with the actual work of the divorce. This is often where the timeline stretches from months into over a year.

To divide assets and determine support, both sides must exchange financial information. This phase is called “discovery.” It involves:

• Interrogatories: Written questions that must be answered under oath.
• Requests for Production: Demands for bank statements, tax returns, and credit card bills.
• Depositions: In-person questioning recorded by a court reporter.

An obstructionist spouse will often ignore these deadlines. They may provide incomplete answers, claim they cannot find documents, or simply refuse to respond. This stalls the negotiation process because we cannot settle the case without a full picture of the marital estate.

Utilizing Motions to Compel

When a spouse refuses to provide mandatory financial disclosures or answer discovery questions, the legal system provides a remedy called a “Motion to Compel.”

This is a formal request to the judge to order the other party to cooperate. If your spouse ignores the discovery deadline, your lawyer files this motion. The judge then sets a hearing. If the judge grants the motion (which is standard when deadlines are missed), your spouse is given a strict order to produce the documents within a certain number of days.

Timeline Impact: This is a stop-and-start process. Filing the motion, waiting for the court date, and waiting for the new deadline can add 60 to 90 days of delay for each dispute. If a spouse repeatedly ignores the judge’s Order to Compel, they can be held in contempt of court, fined, or even jailed, though incarceration is a last resort.

The Role of Pendente Lite Hearings

One strategy an uncooperative spouse uses is “starving out” the other party—cutting off access to bank accounts or refusing to pay bills while the divorce drags on. They hope the financial pressure will force you to accept a bad settlement just to end it.

To counter this, we often request a pendente lite (pending the litigation) hearing. This is a temporary hearing held before the final trial. The judge can issue temporary orders regarding:

• Temporary child custody and visitation schedules.
• Temporary child support and spousal support.
• Who stays in the marital home in Auburn or Opelika.
• Payment of mortgage, utilities, and debts.

While scheduling this hearing takes time (often a few months depending on the Lee County court docket), obtaining a temporary order stabilizes your financial situation. It removes the leverage the uncooperative spouse thinks they have, often prompting them to negotiate more seriously.

Mediation Requirements in Lee County

Even if your spouse is being difficult, the court will likely order both of you to attend mediation before allowing the case to proceed to a final trial. Mediation is a confidential process where a neutral third party tries to help you reach an agreement.

You might think, “Why bother? My spouse won’t agree to anything.”

Surprisingly, mediation often resolves difficult cases. The mediator can explain the reality of the situation to an unreasonable spouse in a way their own lawyer cannot. They can show your spouse that their obstructionism will likely hurt them in court.

Timeline Impact: Mediation is usually scheduled after discovery is complete. If it is successful, the divorce can be finalized shortly after the agreement is signed. If it fails because your spouse acts in bad faith, the mediator declares an impasse, and the case moves toward trial.

The Final Trial: The Longest Wait

If your spouse refuses to settle or listen to reason, the case must go to trial. This is where the judge hears evidence and makes the final decision on all issues.

Getting a trial date in the Circuit Court of Lee County is not immediate. The court docket is crowded with criminal cases and other civil matters. A contested divorce trial might be scheduled 6 to 12 months in advance.

Once the trial happens, however, the delay tactics end. The judge will issue a Final Decree of Divorce. If the judge finds that your spouse unnecessarily delayed the proceedings or hid assets, they may order your spouse to pay your attorney’s fees as a penalty for their behavior.

Estimating the Total Timeline

Because every case involves different variables, giving an exact date is impossible. However, based on our experience in Auburn and Opelika, here are general estimates for cases involving uncooperative spouses:

• Default Judgment (No response at all): 3 to 5 months.
• Contested with moderate delay tactics: 9 to 15 months.
• High-conflict litigation (Custody battles, hiding assets): 18 months to 2 years or more.

It is vital to remember that faster is not always better. Accepting an unfair settlement just to end the process quickly can have negative financial consequences that last for decades.

Strategies to Speed Up the Process

While you cannot control your spouse, you can control your side of the case to ensure no time is wasted.

• Gather Documents Early: Before the process starts, gather every financial document you can access. If you already have the tax returns and bank statements, we do not have to wait months for your spouse to produce them.
• Be Responsive: When your legal team asks for information, provide it immediately.
• Avoid Retaliation: It is tempting to fire back when a spouse is being difficult. However, sending angry text messages or withholding visitation can give the other side “ammunition” to file their own motions, which only creates more delay.
• Focus on the End Game: Your attorney can help you distinguish between battles worth fighting and minor annoyances that are better ignored to keep the case moving.

Protecting Your Future

Dealing with a spouse who refuses to cooperate is exhausting. It requires patience, strategic aggression, and a refusal to be bullied. The goal of the obstructionist is to make you give up. Do not give them that satisfaction. At Haygood, Cleveland, Pierce, Thompson & Short, LLP, we have decades of experience navigating the Lee County court system. We know how to use the rules of civil procedure to force a case forward when the other side tries to stall. We focus on protecting your rights and securing a future for you and your children, regardless of how difficult your spouse chooses to be.

Contact today at (334) 821-3892 to schedule a consultation. Let us handle the legal hurdles so you can focus on building your new life.