At a minimum, there is a 120-day waiting period from the time of filing to the date of divorce. Unless you and your spouse already agree on everything, most cases last substantially longer than 120 days. There is a lot to accomplish from the time of the pleadings to the time of divorce. Namely, the following issues need to be addressed, though some of these may not apply to your situation.

• Property division
• Placement and custody
• Child support
• Maintenance

If there is no agreement, or only partial agreements, both parties’ attorneys, and the
Court, will need to gather information to make arguments and decisions. Generally,
placement and custody, child support, and maintenance have the potential to change
over time, even after divorce, but property division is final. For this reason, it is important
for everyone involved to get a thorough and accurate understanding of the debts and
assets at play to divide them appropriately. Additionally, even though placement, child
support, and maintenance often change over time, it is important to ensure that any
placement schedule is in the child’s best interest, and that support is such that each
party can maintain their basic living expenses.

Between the 120 period, and the necessary information gathering process, divorces can
take some time. A lot of people have immediate concerns about how to best
communicate with a spouse they are divorcing, see their kids, and pay their bills. Often
when there are immediate issues, a Temporary Order is warranted. A Temporary Order
can be by agreement or Court Order, or a combination of the two, and is intended to
address what you and your spouse should do while your divorce is pending. A
Temporary Order may address who pays what bills, what the placement schedule is,
child support, who stays in the marital residence, who drives what car, and so forth.
While a Temporary Order may give some indication as to where the case is going, it is
intended to be a temporary stop gap put in place with little information. If you are
worried about a Temporary Order, just remember, it is temporary, and as more
information is available, it is likely to change.