Learn the Cheapest Way To Get a Divorce

Countless TV shows portray divorce proceedings as being complex, acrimonious, and expensive. If divorce is your only course of action, one of the greatest hurdles you face is the potential expense of hiring attorneys and paying court fees.

DoNotPay is here to help with the best advice on finding the cheapest way to get a divorce!

Where Does the Money Go in a Divorce?

Divorce is a process, and each step can cost money. The steps in a divorce process and their approximate costs are as follows:

Divorce Step	Explanation	Approximate Cost
Filing divorce papers	Filing your petition for divorce and all the associated paperwork incurs a filing fee at your local family court	Up to $400
Serving your papers	Your divorce papers—even if your case is uncontested—may have to be delivered to your spouse by a sheriff or professional process server	Around $50
Negotiating and drafting your settlement agreement	Your settlement agreement is the most crucial document in your divorce and is often left in the hands of attorneys to negotiate and draft	Between $4,000 and $20,000 depending on the complexity of your case
Running a court case	Each day in court costs, and the longer your case lasts, the more you are likely to face hefty court and legal bills	From $120 per day plus lawyers’ appearance fees

Lawyers’ fees make up the lion’s share of the costs in any divorce. Many lawyers charge up to $400 per hour, and most will insist on a minimum fee or a retainer to take on your case.

The average cost of a divorce per spouse with lawyer involvement is:

$17,000 for contested divorces
$4,100 in uncontested cases

How Can You Reduce the Cost of a Divorce?

There are ways you can reduce—or even eliminate—the cost of each step in the divorce process and guarantee a low-cost divorce.

Your cost-saving options for filing and serving your spouse are as follows:

Filing a Petition for divorce
Serving the papers

Filing a Petition for Divorce

The costs of filing for divorce in each state are as follows:

State	Cost	State	Cost	State	Cost
Alabama	$400	Kentucky	$148	North Dakota	$80
Alaska	$250	Louisiana	$355	Ohio	$350
Arizona	$280	Maine	$120	Oklahoma	$183
Arkansas	$165	Maryland	$165	Oregon	$301
California	$435	Massachusetts	$215	Pennsylvania	$202
Colorado	$230	Michigan	$150	Puerto Rico	$400
Connecticut	$360	Minnesota	$365	Rhode Island	$400
Delaware	$165	Mississippi	$400	South Carolina	$150
District of Columbia (Washington D.C.)	$80	Missouri	$134	South Dakota	$95
Florida	$408	Montana	$170	Tennessee	$185
Georgia	$400	Nebraska	$158	Texas	$283
Hawaii	$215	Nevada	$299	Utah	$325
Idaho	$154	New Hampshire	$400	Vermont	$90
Illinois	$334	New Jersey	$300	Virginia	$91
Indiana	$157	New Mexico	$137	Washington	$314
Iowa	$265	New York	$335	West Virginia	$200
Kansas	$400	North Carolina	$75	Wisconsin	$185

If you and your spouse have separated and live in different states, you may be able to file in the cheaper of the two. Divorce in most states is subject to residency restrictions, but you may be able to qualify.

As a further option, some county courts will waive your filing fee entirely if you lodge a claim of financial hardship.

Serving the Papers

You may be able to avoid the servitude fee if you and your spouse agree to file jointly.

This is permissible in some states—where it is not allowed, your spouse may be able to sign a waiver that foregoes their requirement to receive the divorce papers.

What Can You Do To Get Rid of Lawyers’ Fees?

The highest cost in any divorce is the hiring and retention of attorneys. The cheapest way to get divorced is to get rid of them if you can.

An attorney’s job in a divorce is to:

Advise you
Negotiate with your spouse’s attorney
Represent you in court
Handle all necessary paperwork ready for you to sign
Draw up your settlement agreement

If you can agree on an uncontested divorce, you may be able to:

This will depend on your ability to reach a consensus on every point of your settlement agreement with your spouse, including:

Alimony
Child custody, parenting, and support
Division of assets and liabilities

Even if you can’t agree on every detail, you might still not need to get lawyers involved to negotiate your settlement. You and your spouse can elect to use a mediator to help you reach a negotiated settlement at a fraction of the cost of a lawyer and get a friendly divorce.

Once you have negotiated the settlement with your spouse, the only other expense is your divorce settlement agreement.

Where Can You Get a Divorce Settlement Agreement Cheaply?

A divorce settlement agreement sets out in legal terms everything that you have agreed on with your spouse. To be accepted by a court, it needs to be comprehensive and watertight, covering all the required areas of your marriage while being valid in your jurisdiction.

To have your settlement agreement drafted, you can use:

A lawyer—This may be an unnecessary expense if you have a consensus with your spouse
Your county court—Your local court may have a form you can fill out, but these are often so complicated that you need a lawyer to decipher them
An online divorce service—Many companies offer templates for you to complete, but—while they are cheap—many of them are inadequate or invalid in certain states

Your best bet is to use DoNotPay. We can create a customized and all-encompassing divorce settlement agreement for you online in a few clicks!

DoNotPay Keeps Your Divorce Costs at Rock Bottom!

DoNotPay is committed to making your divorce as affordable as possible! Our Divorce Settlement Agreement product ticks all the boxes—it covers your exact requirements, is valid in your jurisdiction, and it saves you hiring expensive attorneys.

Here’s how to set your settlement agreement up:

Sign up with DoNotPay in your web browser
Go to our Divorce Settlement Agreement feature
Give us the full scope of your settlement

Once we have everything, we will generate your settlement agreement in a flash. All you and your spouse need to do is sign it and have it notarized through our app.

DoNotPay Makes Administrative Hurdles a Piece of Cake

If you ever needed to deal with an administrative task, such as drafting a valid legal document or paying property taxes, you know that it’s a struggle. The good news is—it doesn’t have to be!

With a bit of assistance, you can draft a POA document and learn how to reduce your property taxes in a jiffy!

DoNotPay will also show you how to tackle any of the following tasks like a pro:

We Offer More Helpful Tools!

Helping you deal with bureaucratic hurdles isn’t everything we got in store for you! DoNotPay boasts various other nifty tools that you can use to deal with everyday tasks. You can: