How much does a divorce cost on average in the United States?

Our own working figure is $12,900 per spouse, with most cases landing between $7,000 and $23,000 total. Take that as ours rather than as a measured national average: it came into our data when the site was built and no survey stands behind it. On the same basis we put an uncontested divorce, where both spouses agree on all terms, at $1,500 to $5,000, and a contested one at $15,000 to $100,000 per spouse.

Which states have the cheapest divorce costs?

Four states carry our lowest uncontested estimate, $1,000 to $3,000: Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota and Wyoming. Six more sit one step above at $1,200 to $3,500. Those are our figures rather than measured state averages, and they take five distinct values across all fifty states, which is what a set of estimates looks like rather than fifty separate readings. What sits behind them is real enough: all four combine low court filing fees with attorney rates at or near the bottom of our national range. Note what is not true of them - Kentucky, Mississippi and South Dakota all carry a 60-day waiting period while ten states have none at all, so a cheap state is not necessarily a quick one.

Which states have the most expensive divorces?

On our own contested estimates the top four are New York ($17,000 to $80,000), California ($17,000 to $75,000), New Jersey ($16,000 to $65,000) and Massachusetts ($16,000 to $60,000). Below them, five states tie at $50,000 at the top, so there is no clean fifth place. California's figure is driven by high attorney rates ($300 to $650 per hour, against New York's $300 to $700), a 6-month waiting period, and community property rules.

What is the biggest factor in how much a divorce costs?

Whether the divorce is contested is the single largest cost driver in our model, and it is the lever the whole site is built around. On our figures an uncontested divorce where both spouses agree on all terms costs $1,500 to $5,000 total, and a contested one $15,000 to $100,000 per spouse. Custody disputes and complex asset division each add cost on top of that.

How much are divorce attorney fees by state?

Rates vary by state, and the ranges we hold are our own estimates rather than billing survey results - they take seven distinct values at the bottom of the range across all fifty states, every one a multiple of 25. The lowest we hold is $150 an hour, in Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and West Virginia; the highest is $700, in New York. Our own view is that a contested divorce takes somewhere between 40 and 200 attorney hours, which is where the choice of representation does most of its damage to a budget.

Complete Divorce Cost Guide by State (2026)

If you are starting to research what your divorce will cost, you have probably already learned the hardest lesson: the answer depends on a lot of variables, and most online estimates are too vague to be useful. This guide cuts through that. It covers the five real cost drivers, what our own figures put a divorce at nationally, what to expect in fifteen states, and the hidden expenses that catch almost everyone off guard.

Be clear about where these numbers come from before you use any of them. They are the figures behind our Divorce Cost Estimator, and they are our own estimates. This paragraph used to say they were drawn from state court filing schedules, published bar association surveys and consumer survey data. Two of those three do not exist: no bar association survey and no consumer survey has ever been read by anyone here, and there is no document, series or date behind either claim. The filing fees are the only part with anything under them, and only for some states, which each state's own page says on its face. Our own data gives the game away anyway. Attorney rates across all fifty states take seven distinct values at the bottom of the range, every one a multiple of 25, which is what a set of estimates looks like rather than fifty separate readings.

So use the ranges below as a planning baseline and not as a measurement, and check any figure that matters against your own state's courts.

The five factors that drive divorce costs

Almost every dollar you spend on divorce traces back to one of these:

How much you and your spouse disagree. Disagreement is the single biggest cost lever. An uncontested divorce, where both sides sign one settlement, typically costs $1,500 to $4,500 total. Once any issue becomes contested, the number can multiply by ten.
Whether children are involved. Custody adds parenting plans, child support calculations, and (in disputed cases) custody evaluations or guardians ad litem. Even cooperative parents add roughly $500 to $2,000 in attorney time.
The size and complexity of your assets. A retirement account that needs a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO), a small business, rental properties, or stock options each add specialist costs.
Your state's filing fees and procedural requirements. Filing fees in our records run from $52 at the bottom, in Mississippi, to $449 at the top, in Pennsylvania. Some states also require waiting periods, parenting classes, or mandatory disclosures that add time and paperwork.
Whether you hire an attorney, mediator, or use a self-help platform. The attorney rates we hold run from $150 an hour at the bottom to $700 at the top, and those are the ends of our own fifty-state range rather than a reading of any market. Mediators we put at $150 to $400 per hour. Online services charge $150 to $1,500 flat.

If you can keep your case uncontested and use a flat-fee or limited-scope arrangement, you can finish for under $2,000. If you fight over custody and significant assets, $50,000 to $100,000 is common in metro markets.

National cost overview

Here is where our own estimate puts each path. These are not averages of anything anybody measured:

Uncontested divorce, no children, no significant assets: $1,200 to $3,500 total, including filing fees.
Uncontested divorce with children or modest assets: $2,500 to $7,000.
Mediated divorce (cooperative, with mediator drafting documents): $4,000 to $9,000 split between spouses.
Contested divorce, average complexity: $15,000 to $35,000 per spouse.
Contested divorce with custody dispute or business valuation: $40,000 to $100,000+ per spouse.

Our national working figure is $12,900 per spouse, with most cases landing between $7,000 and $23,000. There is no median beside it, and the reason is worth stating: a median requires a distribution, somebody has to have collected one, and nobody here has. This guide used to print a $11,300 mean and a $7,500 median as though both had been measured. Neither had, and the mean did not even agree with the figure our own calculator uses. If your case is contested, skip the national figure entirely and read the contested ranges instead.

State-by-state cost summary

The table below covers fifteen states. "Filing fee" is the range that state's own record holds for starting a case; individual counties charge more or less within it, and some charge more than the top. "Property system" is community property (each spouse owns half of marital property by default) or equitable distribution (a judge divides property fairly, which is not necessarily 50/50). Which of the two we put a state in is our own record rather than that state's own law: it is a classification this site carries rather than a finding.

| State | Uncontested range | Contested range | Filing fee | Property system | |---|---|---|---|---| | California | $2,500 - $7,000 | $17,000 - $75,000 | $435 | Community | | Texas | $2,000 - $5,500 | $15,000 - $50,000 | $250 - $350 | Community | | Florida | $1,500 - $5,000 | $13,000 - $45,000 | $400 - $410 | Equitable | | New York | $2,500 - $8,000 | $17,000 - $80,000 | $335 | Equitable | | Illinois | $2,000 - $5,500 | $13,000 - $45,000 | $289 - $388 | Equitable | | Pennsylvania | $2,000 - $5,500 | $12,000 - $42,000 | $230 - $449 | Equitable | | Ohio | $1,500 - $4,000 | $10,000 - $35,000 | $200 - $350 | Equitable | | Georgia | $1,500 - $4,000 | $11,000 - $38,000 | $200 - $300 | Equitable | | North Carolina | $1,500 - $4,500 | $11,000 - $36,000 | $225 | Equitable | | Michigan | $1,500 - $4,500 | $11,000 - $38,000 | $175 - $255 | Equitable | | New Jersey | $2,500 - $7,000 | $16,000 - $65,000 | $300 | Equitable | | Washington | $2,000 - $6,000 | $15,000 - $50,000 | $254 - $314 | Community | | Arizona | $1,500 - $4,500 | $15,000 - $45,000 | $250 - $350 | Community | | Tennessee | $1,500 - $4,000 | $10,000 - $33,000 | $175 - $250 | Equitable | | Colorado | $2,000 - $5,000 | $14,000 - $42,000 | $230 | Equitable |

Every cell in that table is read straight off the same state records the calculators run on, and tests/content/prose-figures.test.ts fails if the two ever stop agreeing. They had. Before this guide was corrected, forty-one of the forty-five ranges above disagreed with the state pages they link to, because the table was typed by hand and then drifted: Arizona's contested range was $10,000 light at the top, New York's was $20,000 light, and Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Florida each printed a filing fee their own state page contradicted.

That sentence used to say "every figure", and it counted only the forty-five ranges. The property column was fifteen more cells, and nothing checked them: the test asserted the three money columns and never looked at the fourth. All fifteen were right, which is why nobody noticed. They are checked now, so the promise covers all sixty.

For state-specific calculator results that account for local rates and fees, see your state hub page (for example, California or Texas).

How to reduce your divorce costs

You have more control over divorce costs than most people realize. Three approaches consistently produce the lowest totals:

Mediation. A neutral mediator helps you and your spouse reach an agreement on the disputed issues. We put mediator rates at $150 to $400 per hour, and most cooperative cases finish in two to five sessions. On our figures a mediated settlement runs $4,000 to $9,000 in total, split between the spouses, plus a few hundred dollars for an attorney to review the agreement before signing. Our Mediation Cost Calculator gives a custom estimate.

Collaborative divorce. Both spouses hire collaboratively trained attorneys who agree in writing not to litigate. If the case fails, both attorneys must withdraw, which gives everyone a strong incentive to settle. Costs typically run $7,000 to $20,000 per spouse, lower than litigation but higher than mediation.

Uncontested filing. If you and your spouse already agree on everything (custody, support, assets, debts), you can file uncontested. Many states have simplified forms for these cases. With an online service like Hello Divorce or LegalZoom, the document prep runs $150 to $1,500. If you add a flat-fee attorney to review the paperwork, expect another $500 to $1,500. Total cost can be under $2,000 in most states.

The fastest path to a cheap divorce is usually some combination of these: agree on as much as you can directly, mediate the rest, and use an attorney only for review.

Hidden costs people forget

Most divorce cost estimates focus on attorney fees and filing fees. Here are the costs that catch people off guard. Every figure in this list, and in the section after it, is a planning estimate of ours: these are prices set by private specialists rather than by any court, no state publishes them, and we have not gone to the professional bodies that might. Use them to know which line items exist and to budget for them, not as quotes.

Process server fees: $50 to $150 to formally serve divorce papers, plus mileage in rural areas.
Court reporter and transcript fees: Required in many contested cases. Transcripts run $4 to $7 per page; a single deposition transcript can be $400 to $1,200.
Parenting class: Many states require a court-approved parenting course before granting custody orders. Cost is typically $25 to $75 per parent.
QDRO drafting: A Qualified Domestic Relations Order is required to split most retirement plans. A QDRO attorney or specialist charges $400 to $1,200 per order.
Mediator fees beyond the first session: People budget for the first session and forget that complex agreements often take three to five.
Real estate appraisal: $400 to $700 if the home value is disputed.
Business valuation: $5,000 to $25,000 if either spouse owns a business.
Custody evaluation: $2,500 to $10,000 in disputed cases.
Tax preparation in the year of divorce: Filing status, alimony rules, and asset transfers all create new tax issues. Budget an extra $300 to $1,000 for a CPA.
Refinancing or buyout costs: If one spouse keeps the home, expect $2,500 to $5,000 in refinancing fees.

Bundled together, these items often add $2,000 to $8,000 on top of attorney costs.

When attorney fees skyrocket

Attorney fees in contested cases follow a fairly predictable pattern. Costs spike when one of these happens:

Discovery becomes contentious. Depositions, subpoenas, and forensic accountants all bill quickly. A single deposition day can run $3,000 to $8,000 in attorney fees alone.
Custody is disputed and a custody evaluation is ordered. This adds the evaluator's fee plus 20 to 60 hours of additional attorney work.
Business valuation is required. The valuation itself is a fixed cost, but the resulting fights over methodology can add $20,000 or more in attorney fees.
One spouse is hiding assets. Forensic accounting and asset tracing typically run $5,000 to $25,000.
The case goes to trial. Trial preparation and the trial itself often double or triple the case total. A two-day trial can run $20,000 to $60,000 in attorney time.

If your case is heading toward any of these, ask your attorney to map out the full likely cost in writing before you authorize the next phase. Most experienced family law attorneys will give you a candid range if you ask.

Run the numbers for your situation

A general guide can only get you so far. For a custom estimate based on your state, your case complexity, and whether you have children, run our free Divorce Cost Estimator. If child support or alimony are part of your concerns, the Child Support Calculator and Alimony Calculator will give you state-specific numbers in under two minutes.

This estimate is for planning purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Consult a licensed family law attorney in your state for guidance specific to your situation.