For as long as most people can recall, Connecticut has required divorcing couples to wait at least 90 days to finalize a divorce.

Some believe this was intended to set up a mandatory ‘cooling off’ period, to let people think things over before divorcing.

While well-intentioned, this required waiting period caused problems for people who had thoughtfully finalized all terms of their divorce before the 90 days were up, and just wanted to finish. They found themselves in a holding pattern. They didn’t feel like they were still married, yet couldn’t finalize their divorce.

Now, in a change to CT General Statutes section 46b-67(b), if both parties attest under oath that they have an agreement on all terms of their divorce, they can ask the court for a waiver of the 90-day waiting period.

The Judicial Branch has created form JD-FM-247 to make this request. It is a simple one-page fillable PDF on their website.

One item seemingly missing from the form: a place to request a divorce date, if the 90-day waiver is granted. So once the request is granted, parties must then contact the court again to request a divorce date.