How long does an uncontested divorce take if both parties sign immediately?

Signing quickly definitely helps — but here's the key thing to understand: you're not divorced the moment you both sign. You're divorced when a judge reviews and approves your paperwork and enters what's called the judgment — the official court order that legally ends the marriage. Until that happens, you're still married, even with every form signed.

So the fastest path is to hand the court a complete, correct package the first time: your signed settlement agreement, your parenting documents, your financial disclosures (the forms showing what each of you owns and owes), and a proposed judgment ready for the judge to approve.

What slows things down is almost always avoidable — missing documents, vague wording about who gets what, incomplete parenting language, or unresolved questions about how to split a retirement account. Each gap can send you back to fix and refile. Beyond that, the actual timeline depends on your local court's schedule and filing requirements, which vary from county to county.

Illinois law allows you to settle everything in a written agreement and fold those terms into the judgment — which is exactly why a clean, complete uncontested filing moves faster than a messy one. 750 ILCS 5/502. The cleaner your paperwork, the sooner a judge can sign off.