“I was so happy,” Ms. Raymond said. Her lawyer sent her the judgment in an email and she printed it out, almost unbelieving. “I was shouting and giving thanks.”

Survivors of abuse trying to get divorced say these organizations have been vital to them — but there are simply not enough lawyers at nonprofit agencies or city-funded organizations to match the volume of need.

“There’s a strong desire among our clients to divorce their abusers, and a dearth of resources when it comes to representation in their divorces,” said Amanda Norejko, the director of the Matrimonial/Economic Justice Project at Sanctuary for Families, a nonprofit.

Even for those who obtain legal services for free, cases can drag on for years. Some lawyers and experts say that abusers deliberately draw out the process, keeping their ex-partners tethered to them legally. As months turn into years, those seeking the divorce may be more willing to give in on issues of visitation or child support in order to put an end to the case.

Abusive partners can also prolong the process by simply disappearing.

Enedina, who asked that her last name not be used because she has an ongoing legal case against her husband involving a child, experienced this problem firsthand when her husband moved to Mexico. Although a staff attorney from the New York Legal Assistance Group is working with her for free, she still had to hire another agent to serve the papers to him. Her attempts to track down her husband and serve him the papers have dragged on for years. Now 40, she is coming up on the three-year mark of trying to get a divorce. “I don’t feel free,” she said one afternoon, sitting in a Starbucks as pop music played in the background. “I’ll probably be free in 20 years or so.”