Yes. You can absolutely make your divorce go faster. And understanding how is one of the most practical things I can help you with in a single coaching session.

Let me start with the basic rules — because before we talk about what you can control, you need to understand what you cannot.

The 60 day rule — the only true time constraint

Arizona law requires a minimum 60 day cooling off period from the time divorce papers are served on the other spouse to the time the court can sign the final documents. That 60 days is built into the law and cannot be waived or shortened — doesn’t matter how cooperative you are, how rich you are, or how many friends you have at the courthouse. The clock is the clock.

So if you and your spouse agree on every single issue — the house, the retirement accounts, the kids, the debts — you still cannot be divorced in less than 60 days from the date of service. That’s the floor. That’s the law.

Everything beyond 60 days, though? That’s within your control. Or more accurately — it depends on what you and your spouse are willing to do.

Then why do divorces take so long?

If 60 days is the minimum, why do so many divorces drag on for a year, two years, sometimes longer? The answer almost always falls into one of two buckets — financial disclosure and custody disputes.

Financial disclosure — Rule 49

Arizona law requires both spouses to fully disclose everything that’s community property, under what’s known as Rule 49. Every asset. Every debt. Every account. Every investment. Every piece of real estate. Both spouses are entitled to know the complete financial picture of the marriage before any agreement can be finalized. And that process is where most divorces stall out.

For some couples, disclosure is honestly pretty simple. If you share bank accounts, file taxes jointly, have one house with both names on the deed, and use the same credit cards — you probably both already know what’s in the marital estate. Getting it onto paper in the required format is a project, but not a complicated one. With cooperation and a little organization, it goes quickly.

For other couples, disclosure becomes a battle. If one spouse has been managing the finances exclusively, hiding assets, moving money, underreporting income, or quietly maintaining accounts the other spouse didn’t know existed — the process gets long and expensive in a hurry. The honest truth is that the length of your divorce is largely determined by how honest and cooperative both parties are willing to be about the money.

Custody disputes

When children are involved and there’s an unsafe parent in the picture — domestic violence, child abuse, drug or alcohol issues, significant untreated mental illness — the case takes longer. Not because it has to be complicated, but because the evidence has to be gathered carefully and presented effectively. You only get one shot at this for your kids.

At Best Law Firm, I take a case by case approach. I look at what evidence we actually have, what we can prove, and whether we need an expert to support our position. One. Not a whole football team of evaluators, advisors, and consultants. Some families do get caught up in that quagmire — multiple experts, court appointed advisors, guardians ad litem, therapists, every party with their own opinion — and it can drag on for years and drain everyone involved. I work hard to avoid that outcome wherever the evidence and the facts allow.

My goal is always to protect the children as efficiently as possible while building the strongest case the facts support.

High conflict co-parents and personality driven dynamics

There’s another category of custody case worth talking about plainly, because it’s one I see constantly and most people don’t have a name for it: the high conflict co-parent. Sometimes that’s a spouse with diagnosed or undiagnosed traits of narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, or what mental health professionals call Cluster B traits. Sometimes it’s simply a person who is so deeply invested in winning and being right that ordinary co-parenting becomes nearly impossible.

If any of this sounds familiar — the gaslighting, the rewriting of history, the sudden charm at one hearing followed by chaos at the next, the relentless emails, the manufactured emergencies, the attempts to use the kids as messengers or weapons, the inability to ever just answer a yes or no question — you’re not imagining it, and you’re not the only one. Family courts are unfortunately very familiar with this pattern.

Cases involving high conflict personalities take longer for a specific reason: the strategy and the pace have to be different. You can’t negotiate normally with someone who experiences compromise as a personal defeat. Reasonable settlement offers may get rejected for reasons that have nothing to do with the actual offer. Every email, every text, and every exchange becomes potential evidence — and needs to be handled like it. Mediation may or may not work, depending on the specific personality dynamics in play, and pushing for it at the wrong moment can actually make things worse.

What I do in these cases is exactly what I do in any other custody case — just with more attention to documentation, communication strategy, and pacing. We focus on building a clear, organized record. We prioritize court orders that reduce the opportunities for conflict. We avoid the bait. We don’t respond to every provocation — we respond strategically, in writing, and with the long game in mind.

And I’ll be honest with you about something most attorneys won’t say out loud: in high conflict cases, the goal is rarely winning in the dramatic sense. The goal is structuring an outcome where your kids are protected, your sanity stays intact, and the high conflict parent has fewer levers to pull at you for the next ten or fifteen years. That’s the win. Everything else is theater.

If you’re co-parenting with someone like this and you’re exhausted just thinking about the road ahead, a coaching session can be enormously helpful even before you file. We can talk through what the dynamic actually is, what realistic outcomes look like, and how to position yourself before the high conflict parent even sees the case coming.

What can actually speed your divorce up

Get full financial disclosure on the table early

Write down all your marital assets and how you want them divided. Have your spouse do the same. Compare the two lists. Find what you agree on. Work through what you don’t. This simple exercise — which a coaching session can walk you through — often reveals that the two of you are closer to agreement than you thought. It also quickly identifies where the real disputes are, so you can focus your energy and your money there instead of fighting about everything at once.

As you go through this exercise, pay attention to sole and separate property. What each spouse brought into the marriage, or received as a gift or inheritance, belongs to that spouse alone. Understanding what’s sole and separate before you walk into negotiations saves time and money. A lot of both.

If you have a prenuptial agreement

A valid prenup can seriously accelerate a divorce. A prenup lets spouses opt out of Arizona’s community property law and define their own terms for how assets will be treated. If a comprehensive prenup is in place, the disclosure process may be dramatically reduced — or skipped almost entirely — because the agreement has already settled what belongs to whom.

One important caveat: prenups cannot address children. Child custody, parenting time, and child support are never enforceable through a prenup, because the best interests of the children is something the court keeps an eye on regardless of what two people agreed to before those children even existed.

The high net worth exception — agreeing to skip full disclosure

In some high net worth cases, both parties choose to skip the full formal financial disclosure process. This happens when the settlement offer on the table is substantial enough that the receiving spouse is comfortable with the outcome without seeing every last document — when the number is large enough that they’d rather take it and move on with their life than spend months or years digging for something that may or may not change the result.

This is a legitimate choice. But it requires two things. First, everyone involved needs a clear sense of the approximate value of what may be getting waived. Second, the spouse waiving disclosure has to sign a disclaimer acknowledging that they chose not to receive full financial disclosure and accepted the settlement on those terms.

This is a sophisticated negotiation decision that needs experienced legal guidance — not a just sign it moment. But in the right circumstances, it can resolve a case in months that might otherwise take years.

Why mediation is the fastest way through

If you and your spouse are both willing to sit down and work through this together, mediation is the most direct path to a fast divorce. And this is exactly where I can help both of you — not as your attorney, but as a neutral third party mediator.

Here’s how it works. Both of you come to a mediation session with me. I help each of you make your lists — all of the marital assets, what’s community property, what’s sole and separate, and how each of you would like to see things divided. We go through the lists together. I help you see what you agree on, understand what matters most to each of you, and work through the areas where you don’t see eye to eye yet.

When both parties reach agreement on all the issues, I can help document everything clearly and correctly. From there your attorney — or Best Law Firm if you retain us — prepares the final documents. If you qualify, we use the Summary Consent Decree process and file everything at once. The court reviews it, signs off, and mails the documents back to you. Sixty days after service, you’re divorced.

That’s the fastest possible path through a divorce in Arizona. Sixty days from service to final decree. No court appearances. No litigation. No prolonged discovery battles. Just two people who sat down, made the lists, found the common ground, and moved forward.

Not every case qualifies for this path — custody disputes involving safety concerns, hidden assets, and high conflict situations call for a different approach. But for couples who are willing to be cooperative and transparent about the money, mediation plus the Summary Consent Decree process is the most efficient route available under Arizona law. Full stop.

How a coaching session helps you move faster

When you come to me for a coaching session on this topic, I help you understand exactly what disclosure is required under Rule 49, what your specific situation looks like, and what the most efficient path forward is given the facts you have.

I walk you through the list exercise — your assets, your spouse’s assets, what you agree on, what you don’t. I help you sort out what’s sole and separate property and what’s community property. I help you think through whether a mediation session makes sense right now or whether more information needs to be gathered first. And if you have a prenuptial agreement, I help you understand what it actually covers and how it affects the road ahead.

If your spouse isn’t cooperating with disclosure — hiding assets, being evasive, dragging their feet, suddenly remembering they need three more weeks — I’ll tell you honestly what your realistic options are and whether the situation has tipped into needing full legal representation.

Our firm has been part of more than 5,000 mediations. I know how to move a case toward resolution efficiently when both parties are willing. And when they’re not, I know how to fight effectively without turning a divorce into a years long ordeal that drains everyone involved.

The short answer

The 60 day waiting period is fixed. Everything else comes down to how quickly both parties put all the financial information on the table, how clearly everyone understands what they own and what they owe, and how willing both sides are to negotiate in good faith toward a resolution.

A consultation with me is the fastest way to understand where you stand, what the process ahead looks like for your specific situation, and what you can do right now to move things forward.

Questions and Answers

What is the fastest you can get divorced in Arizona?

Sixty days from the date the divorce papers are served on your spouse. That’s the absolute floor under Arizona law and it cannot be waived, no matter how cooperative both parties are. To actually hit that 60 day mark, you generally need to agree on every issue, complete required financial disclosure or qualify to skip it, and use the Summary Consent Decree process. For couples who are aligned and organized, this is achievable. For most couples, it takes longer — not because of the law, but because of how long it takes to reach agreement.

Can I waive the 60 day waiting period in Arizona?

No. The 60 day waiting period from service to final decree is built into Arizona law and cannot be waived under any circumstances. Cooperation, mutual agreement, expedited filing — none of it changes the 60 day clock. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t know Arizona law.

What is Rule 49 financial disclosure?

Rule 49 is the Arizona court rule that requires both spouses to fully disclose all assets, debts, accounts, investments, real estate, and income before a divorce can be finalized. Both spouses are entitled to a complete picture of the marital finances. The faster and more honestly both parties complete disclosure, the faster the case moves. Slow or evasive disclosure is the single biggest reason divorces stall in Arizona.

What is a Summary Consent Decree?

A Summary Consent Decree is an Arizona divorce process for couples who agree on every issue. Instead of litigating or attending court hearings, the parties submit a complete agreement to the court along with the final documents. The court reviews everything, signs off, and mails the decree back. No court appearances required. Combined with mediation, this is the fastest path through an Arizona divorce. Not every case qualifies — if there are unresolved disputes, hidden assets, or safety issues, a different process is required.

What if my spouse won’t cooperate with financial disclosure?

If your spouse is hiding assets, dragging their feet, or refusing to comply with Rule 49, you have legal options — motions to compel, formal discovery, subpoenas to financial institutions, and ultimately court intervention. These are situations where coaching alone may not be sufficient and full legal representation usually makes more sense. A consultation with me will tell you honestly which category your situation falls into and what your realistic next steps are.

Can a prenuptial agreement actually shorten my divorce?

Yes. A valid, comprehensive prenup can dramatically shorten a divorce because it has already addressed how assets will be treated. The full formal disclosure process may be reduced or eliminated for property issues. However, prenups cannot address child custody, parenting time, or child support — those decisions are based on the children’s situation at the time of the divorce, regardless of what any agreement says. So a prenup speeds up the financial side. The parenting side still needs its own resolution.

How long does the average divorce take in Arizona?

It varies widely based on the complexity of the case and the cooperation level of both parties. Cooperative cases with simple finances and no custody disputes can finish in roughly 60 to 90 days. Cases with contested issues typically run 6 to 12 months. Cases with hidden assets, custody disputes involving safety concerns, or aggressive opposing counsel can take a year or longer. The biggest variable is almost always how willing both parties are to negotiate in good faith.

What if my spouse has narcissistic or borderline traits — will my divorce take longer?

Often, yes — and that’s not your fault. Divorces involving high conflict personalities, including spouses with traits of narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, or other Cluster B characteristics, typically require a different approach than standard cases. Reasonable offers may be rejected. Communication tends to escalate. Mediation may or may not work depending on the dynamics. The strategy in these cases involves careful documentation, strong communication protocols, and parenting plans designed to minimize the high conflict parent’s opportunities to create chaos. A coaching session before you file can be especially valuable here — understanding the dynamic ahead of time changes everything about how you position your case.

Ready to talk? Book your consult at bestlawaz.com/talk-to-tali or call (480) 219-2433.