Family court statistics published by Ministry of Justice

The average time to finalize a divorce has gone up by seven weeks last year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Justice.

The latest numbers show that, on average - from petition to Decree Nisi - it took 31 weeks and to Decree Absolute 56 weeks, both up seven weeks compared to the equivalent quarter 2017.

In July to September 2018, 66,118 new cases started in Family courts, up 1% on the equivalent quarter in 2017. This was driven by an 7% rise in matrimonial cases started. However, there were decreases in new financial remedy (9%), public law (5%), domestic violence (4%), and adoption (4%) cases started.

For the latest statistics, click here.