How Long Does it take to get a Divorce?

• If you just moved to Texas, you wait 6 months to establish residency.
• If you just moved to a new county, you wait 90 days to establish residency.
• If you just served papers on your spouse, you wait between 20 and 27 days for your spouse's Answer. The answer day is always Monday morning, but the law has a 7 day variable.  Go figure.
• If you just filed a divorce case, there is a 60 day "cooling off" wait built into the law. 
• If you are in a busy judge's court, there will be a scheduling order, which lists things to be done over a 4 month period ( or so ).
• If you have a Temporary Restraining Order, you have a 14 day wait to get to a hearing.  In other words, getting help on child support and expenses has a 14 day wait.
• If you ask for a trial setting from the Court, there will be a 45 day wait to give the other side proper notice.
• If you want to settle the case, it usually takes a wait of 45 days from the filing of the divorce until the parties are calm enough to talk and settle a case.
• If drugs and children are at issue, there is usually an immediate drug test. The drug test may take custody issues immediately. 
• If children are at issue, there may be a wait for a psychologist's report or a psychiatrist's report in 4 months or so.
• If you are the woman and feel in danger, there is no wait, you go to your nearest, oldest, male relative for a visit.  Modern science provides a miracle cure for spousal abuse cases, the thought of going to see the wife and meeting her unbalanced, shotgun loving Daddy.
• Of course, the most reasonable thing is to hire a lawyer, tell him you want a divorce, and then complain about how slow your lawyer moves the case.  Spend your time recovering, helping children recover, and getting your life back is a better use of time than learning the procedural rules for a divorce.  Only a lawyer could love rules of procedure.