How Long Does a Divorce Take in Scotland?
Almost everybody asking this question is really asking two questions at once, and the reason the answers online vary so wildly is that most of them answer only one.
There is the wait before you can apply, which in most Scottish divorces is one year or two years of separation. And there is the wait after you apply, which is the court process itself and is measured in weeks or months. They are entirely separate, they are governed by different things, and confusing them is how somebody ends up believing a Scottish divorce takes two years when the court part of it took ten weeks.
This page deals with both, in that order.
The Short Answer
| Route | Wait before you can apply | Court process once lodged |
|---|---|---|
| Simplified, one year apart with consent | One year of separation | Typically eight to twelve weeks |
| Simplified, two years apart without consent | Two years of separation | Typically eight to twelve weeks |
| Undefended ordinary, separation fact | One or two years of separation | Typically three to four months |
| Undefended ordinary, behaviour or adultery | None | Typically three to four months |
| Defended, or finances in dispute | Varies | Months to well over a year |
Those court timescales are what we see in practice on cases that are correctly prepared and not opposed. They are not a promise. A court is a court, and none of us controls its diary.
The First Clock: Before You Can Apply
For the two separation facts, the period is fixed by statute and nothing shortens it. One year of separation where your spouse consents, two years where they do not. The facts themselves are set out on our page on grounds for divorce in Scotland.
The date the clock starts is not always the date somebody moved out. Under section 13 of the Divorce (Scotland) Act 1976 the parties are held to live together only when they are in fact living together as man and wife. Couples do separate under one roof, and a spouse working away for months has not separated at all. Fix the date early and be consistent about it.
A failed reconciliation pauses the clock rather than resetting it. Under section 2(4) of the Act, periods of living together again totalling no more than six months are disregarded, so the separation still counts as continuous, but those periods do not count towards the year or the two years. Two months back together pushes your date back by two months. More than six months in total, and the clock restarts from the final separation.
There is no waiting period at all for behaviour or adultery. If waiting is genuinely not realistic, an ordinary action can be raised at any point, including within the first year of the marriage, because Scotland has no equivalent of the English one year bar. The separation facts cannot help you in that first year, since the period has to run after the date of the marriage. It costs more, and in practice it is done through a solicitor, but the option is there.
The Second Clock: After You Apply
The Simplified Route, Stage by Stage
| Stage | Typical time | What can hold it up |
|---|---|---|
| Getting the extract marriage certificate | A few days to two weeks | Ordering the wrong document. It must be an extract, not the commemorative certificate from the day. |
| Completing and signing the form | An evening | Finding a notary public or justice of the peace to swear the affidavit. |
| Your spouse signing the consent, on Form SPA | Days, or never | This is the single biggest variable, and it is not in your hands. |
| Court checks the application | Two to four weeks | Anything wrong on the form comes back, and you start this stage again. |
| Intimation to your spouse | Around three weeks | A wrong or out of date address. Sheriff officer service if postal intimation fails. |
| Sheriff grants decree | Two to four weeks after intimation | Court workload. |
| Extract decree issued | Around two weeks after decree | Nothing usually. You need the extract, not the decree, to remarry. |
Added together that is where eight to twelve weeks comes from. The forms themselves, and the eight places applications most often fail, are covered on our pages on the simplified divorce forms and doing it yourself.
The Undefended Ordinary Route
An ordinary action is a court action rather than a postal application, and it has more moving parts. The initial writ is drafted and lodged, a warrant is granted, the writ is served on the defender, and there is a period for them to respond. If they do not, the action proceeds by affidavit evidence, which is prepared, sworn and lodged with a minute for decree. The sheriff then considers it.
Three to four months is normal where nobody is fighting. Service is the usual source of delay, particularly where the defender is avoiding it or has moved without telling anybody, and where sheriff officers are needed that adds both time and cost.
Where there is a child of the marriage under sixteen, the court has to be satisfied about the arrangements for that child, which is a further step but rarely a long one where the arrangements are agreed.
What Actually Causes Delay
In our experience, in order of how often it happens.
The application is wrong. This is by far the most common cause, and it is entirely avoidable. A form returned for correction does not go to the back of the queue at the point it reached; it starts the checking stage again. Two returns can add two months to an eight week process.
The other spouse will not sign. On the one year with consent route, everything stops here. If consent is not coming, the realistic options are to wait until two years have passed and proceed without it, or to raise an ordinary action on another fact.
The other spouse cannot be found. Where the address is unknown there are extra requirements to satisfy the court about what has been done to trace them, and that takes time.
The finances are not actually finished. This one is not a delay so much as a wrong turning. If anything financial is outstanding, the simplified route is not open at all, and discovering that late means starting again on the correct procedure. It matters because a capital sum, a property transfer and pension sharing all have to be dealt with in the divorce action itself and cannot ordinarily be claimed once decree is granted. See settling finances before you divorce.
Court workload. It varies between sheriffdoms and across the year. Nobody controls it and no solicitor can promise around it.
What You Control and What You Do Not
You control whether the application is right the first time, whether you have the extract marriage certificate before you start, whether the address you give for your spouse is current, and whether you have genuinely finished with the money before you use a procedure that assumes you have.
You do not control whether your spouse signs, how busy the court is, or how quickly sheriff officers can effect service.
Which is why the honest advice on speed is unglamorous: the fastest divorce is the one that is correct when it is lodged.
Compared With England and Wales
England and Wales has a fixed minimum. Under section 1 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 as amended, twenty weeks must pass before a conditional order and a further six weeks and one day before the final order, and under section 3 no application can be made in the first year of marriage at all.
Scotland has no such minimum on the court process. A couple already a year apart and in agreement will usually be divorced faster here, and the court fee is a great deal lower. A couple who married recently and separated quickly can raise proceedings here immediately on behaviour, which they could not do there. The two systems are compared in full on divorce in Scotland compared with England.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a simplified divorce take in Scotland?
Typically eight to twelve weeks from lodging a correctly completed application that is not opposed. That is the court process only. It does not include the one or two years of separation you must already have completed before you can apply.
How long does an undefended ordinary divorce take?
Usually three to four months from raising the action. Service on the other spouse is the most common source of delay, particularly where they are avoiding it or their address is out of date.
What is the fastest possible divorce in Scotland?
An ordinary action on behaviour, which has no waiting period at all and can be raised at any time, including in the first year of marriage. It costs more than a simplified divorce and in practice it is done through a solicitor, so it is the fastest route rather than the best one for most people.
Do I have to wait a year before I can get divorced in Scotland?
Only if you are relying on separation. One year apart with your spouse’s consent, or two years without it. Adultery and behaviour have no waiting period. Unlike England and Wales, Scotland has no bar on divorcing within the first year of the marriage, although the separation facts cannot be used then, because the period must run after the date of the marriage.
Does getting back together restart the clock?
Not unless it goes on too long. Under section 2(4) of the Divorce (Scotland) Act 1976, periods of living together again totalling no more than six months are disregarded, so the separation still counts as continuous, but they do not count towards the required period. Beyond six months in total, the clock restarts from the final separation.
Why has my application been returned by the court?
Almost always something on the form: the wrong marriage certificate, an unsigned or improperly sworn affidavit, an incomplete address, or an answer that is inconsistent with the rest of the application. A returned application does not resume where it stopped; the checking stage begins again.
How long after decree can I remarry?
Not on the day of decree. The decree cannot be extracted until the period for appealing has passed, which is why the extract usually follows around two weeks later. The extract is the document you will be asked to produce, so it is sensible to have it in hand before fixing anything.
Can you make it go faster?
Not by pushing the court. What can be done is to make sure the application is right the first time, because a returned application is the single largest avoidable delay in the whole process. That is a large part of what the £550 fixed fee buys.
This page was written and reviewed by Brian Rooney, Managing Partner of Rooney Family Law, accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in family law. Statutory references are to the Divorce (Scotland) Act 1976 as currently in force and, for the comparison with England and Wales, to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 as amended by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020. Timescales are typical of what we see in practice on correctly prepared and unopposed cases; they are not guarantees and court workload varies. This page is general information and is not legal advice on your circumstances.
Last reviewed: 8th September 2026.
Get It Right the First Time
The largest avoidable delay is an application that has to be returned for correction. A simplified divorce is £550 all in, including the £156 court fee, and that is largely what the fee buys: the form completed properly and lodged once. An undefended ordinary divorce is £1,550 all in.
