Under court rules, a spouse served with divorce papers only has a few weeks to file an answer to the divorce complaint. You can lose critical rights if you don’t file a timely answer. However, under the federal Service members Civil Relief Act, active-duty service members may ask the court to delay or “stay” a divorce case if their military duties prevent them from adequately participating in court proceedings. The court can grant an initial 90-day stay and may allow additional delays after the expiration of the original stay. However, courts may not delay the divorce indefinitely.