Primarily targeting abused spouses, Gov. Wolf recently signed a bill allowing for victims/spouses of certain crimes to expedite their divorce filing.
Most Bucks County divorce lawyers have represented a person in custody/incarceration. The new law will presume the consent of the other party if they have been convicted of committing a personal injury crime against their spouse. This would mean that the standard 2 year waiting period on a non-consent divorce goes away and there is a 90-day period like a consent divorce. The bill goes into what a "personal injury crime" is defined as, but it involves some very serious crimes that are felonies (i.e. homicide, kidnapping, human trafficking) as well as some misdemeanors (i.e. assault). By far, it appears that the "assault" issue will probably be the crime that triggers such a filing as it is the most common crime in domestic violence.
So what is the timing of this filing? First, note that the law states a "CONVICTED." HAVING BEEN FOUND GUILTY, HAVING ENTERED A PLEA OF GUILTY OR NOLO CONTENDERE OR HAVING BEEN ACCEPTED INTO ACCELERATED REHABILITATIVE DISPOSITION." Since there needs to be a "conviction" under the bill, a spouse will have to wait many months for an adjudication on the underlying criminal charge. So, it may make sense to file for the divorce after the conviction. Therefore, this could take 6+ months before the conviction occurs as trials and criminal litigation takes a long time.
But, there may be an argument, however, that a person can initiate a filing for divorce while the case is pending. A judge most likely won't enter the order until the conviction occurs. But, it can save time and essentially parallel the pending criminal charges. It will be interesting to see how the courts treat these filings with respect to the timing.