Shannon O. Louden is a top divorce attorney in CT.

What to Expect

To help parties understand the divorce process, we have summarized the main events, with a rough timeline. It’s important to know that Connecticut is a “no-fault” state. Simply put, this means that, in order to terminate a marriage, it’s no longer necessary to prove that one spouse has been at fault for the breakdown of the marriage (for such reasons as “intolerable cruelty” or adultery).

In this respect, the law treats the dissolution of a marriage much as it would the dissolving of a business partnership; each party entered into the relationship in good faith, but things did not work out. In Connecticut, 95 percent of divorce cases are settled, sparing both parties the time, expense and emotional hardship of a trial. Settling requires that each party act reasonably and in good faith by not demanding too much or offering too little.

Here are the significant steps and an approximate timeline. We have a brochure that details the process more fully, and we would be happy to share it with you.

  1. Summons and Complaint
  2. Papers are delivered
  3. Return date – always on a Tuesday, this begins the 90-day waiting period that follows serving of the papers
  4. Case is opened
  5. Financial Affidavits are exchanged – should occur within a month after the return date, but latitude is given here, as in other timing areas
  6. Temporary orders
  7. Case Management Agreement – filed with the court three months after the return date
  8. Custody-parenting study – may lengthen the case by several months
  9. Gathering facts/evaluating case – generally the most time-consuming phase of a case
  10. Case evaluation
  11. Negotiations
  12. Court pretrial program
  13. Private pretrial process
  14. Settlement
  15. Trial
  16. Time overview – a divorce case will take at least four months, and most cases take from six months to a year, with more highly contested cases taking longer


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