An uncontested divorce typically costs between $500 and $5,000, with the low end reflecting a do-it-yourself filing and the high end reflecting full attorney representation. Your state’s court filing fee sets the floor, and every choice above that — legal help, mediation, document preparation — pushes the number up. What the sticker price hides is a second layer of expenses that arrive with the decree or shortly after: dividing a retirement account, refinancing a house, replacing health insurance, and filing taxes under a new status. Those can each add hundreds or thousands of dollars to the true cost of ending your marriage.
What You Pay the Court
Every divorce begins with a filing fee paid to the court, generally between $75 and $450 depending on state and county. Some jurisdictions add charges for specific requests like temporary custody orders or a name change, so the total at the clerk’s window can run higher than the base fee.
If you can’t afford the filing fee, most states allow you to apply for a waiver. Eligibility is usually tied to household income relative to the federal poverty guidelines, and the application is a short form filed alongside your divorce petition. Approval isn’t automatic, but if you qualify for public assistance or your income falls below the court’s threshold, the waiver can eliminate the cost entirely.
After filing, you have to formally notify your spouse through service of process. A private process server generally runs $20 to $150. The sheriff’s office is often cheaper, certified mail cheaper still where it’s allowed, and a signed waiver of service from your spouse drops the cost to zero. Notarization on multiple documents will add a few dollars per signature.
What You Pay for Legal Help
Legal fees are the single biggest variable, and they scale with how much of the work you’re willing to do yourself.
At the bottom, filing without any legal help keeps your costs limited to the filing fee and small administrative expenses. Many courts run self-help centers and publish standardized forms to make this workable. The risk is that gaps in your agreement or errors in your paperwork can send you back to court later to fix things an attorney would have caught up front.
Online divorce platforms sit a step above pure DIY. They generate state-specific forms from information you enter, and you file the completed documents yourself. Prices generally start around $150 and climb with add-ons like attorney review or document mailing. These services prepare documents. They don’t interact with the court or finalize anything for you.
Non-attorney document preparation services are a similar tier, generally $200 to $600 for basic assistance and more for complex cases.
Many attorneys offer “unbundled” or limited-scope services: reviewing your settlement agreement, drafting a parenting plan, or coaching you through filing. You pay only for the tasks you actually need. This works well when you and your spouse have already agreed on the big issues and just want a professional eye on the paperwork. A flat-fee review typically runs $500 to $1,500.
Full representation is the most predictable and the most expensive path. A flat fee can range from under $1,000 to several thousand dollars depending on your location and how complicated your agreement is. If your attorney bills hourly, ask for an estimate of total hours and what triggers additional charges. Retainer arrangements, where you pay a deposit the attorney bills against, are standard for hourly work.
Mediation When You’re Not Fully Agreed
If you and your spouse agree on most things but are stuck on a few, mediation is almost always cheaper than putting those questions to a judge. A neutral mediator helps you negotiate and draft an agreement both sides can accept. Attorney-mediators typically charge $250 to $500 per hour; non-attorney mediators charge $100 to $350 per hour. A complete mediation process generally lands between $3,000 and $8,000, though a case with only one or two open issues can come in well below that.
Some mediators offer flat-rate packages between roughly $4,000 and $5,500 that bundle a set number of sessions plus document preparation. That can be the better deal if you expect multiple sessions, because you’re not watching the clock.
The Costs People Don’t See Coming
The direct costs above are only part of the picture. Four common expenses tend to blindside people who assumed “uncontested” meant “inexpensive.”
Dividing a Retirement Account
If either spouse has a 401(k), 403(b), pension, or other employer-sponsored retirement plan, splitting it requires a special court order called a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, or QDRO. Federal law requires this step for any division of benefits under an ERISA-governed employer-sponsored retirement plan.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 414 – Definitions and Special Rules Without a QDRO, a plan administrator has no legal authority to send a portion of one spouse’s benefits to the other.
Preparing a QDRO typically costs $300 to $2,000 or more, depending on the plan type and whether you use a specialized QDRO attorney or a preparation service. Pension plans generally cost more than defined-contribution plans like 401(k)s because the calculations are more involved. Each account needs its own QDRO. Delaying is one of the most expensive mistakes in divorce: an ex-spouse who waits years may discover the plan’s rules have changed, the participant has taken distributions, or the plan has been terminated.
The House
For most couples the home is the biggest asset, and either path forward has real costs.
If you sell while still married and file a joint return for that tax year, federal law lets you exclude up to $500,000 in capital gains from the sale of your primary residence, provided at least one spouse owned the home and both lived in it for at least two of the five years before the sale. After the divorce is final, each ex-spouse filing individually can exclude only up to $250,000.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 121 – Exclusion of Gain From Sale of Principal Residence On an appreciated home, the timing of the sale can save tens of thousands in taxes.
If one spouse keeps the house, the other typically signs a quitclaim deed transferring their interest. Recording fees are modest. The bigger expense is refinancing the mortgage into one name, which brings closing costs, an appraisal fee of roughly $300 to $600, and potentially a higher interest rate when qualifying on a single income. Budget 2% to 5% of the loan balance for refinancing. A professional appraisal is also worth paying for on the settlement side; without one, you’re guessing at how much equity you’re splitting, and the spouse who guesses wrong pays for it permanently.
Health Insurance
If you’re covered under your spouse’s employer plan, divorce ends that coverage. Federal law classifies divorce as a qualifying event that entitles the non-employee spouse and any covered dependents to continue coverage under COBRA for up to 36 months.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 1163 – Qualifying Event The catch is price: COBRA premiums can be up to 102% of the full plan cost, because you pay both the employee and employer portions plus a 2% administrative fee.4U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers For many people that’s $500 to $800 or more a month.
COBRA is a bridge. The health insurance marketplace, whether at open enrollment or triggered by divorce as a qualifying life event, will usually produce something more affordable. Factor this into settlement talks; some agreements require one spouse to maintain the other’s coverage for a set period or contribute toward premiums.
Your Tax Bill
Filing status is set by your marital status on December 31. If your divorce is final by that date, you file as single or head of household for the entire year, even if you were married for most of it.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 (2025), Divorced or Separated Individuals Moving from “married filing jointly” to a single-filer status usually means a smaller standard deduction and less favorable brackets, which can raise your tax liability.
Head of household offers better rates than single, but you have to meet the requirements: you paid more than half the cost of maintaining your home for the year, and a qualifying dependent child lived with you for more than half the year.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 (2025), Divorced or Separated Individuals
What This Actually Adds Up To
Putting the pieces together, a typical uncontested divorce falls into one of three tiers:
- Simple case, no attorney. Court filing fee ($75 to $450), service of process ($0 to $150), possibly an online divorce service ($150 to $300). Total: roughly $200 to $900.
- Moderate case with limited attorney help. Filing fee, service of process, a few hours of attorney time or a flat-fee review ($500 to $1,500), and possibly mediation on one or two issues. Total: roughly $1,500 to $4,000.
- Complex case with retirement accounts and real estate. Filing fee, full attorney representation ($1,000 to $3,500), one or more QDROs ($300 to $2,000 each), a home appraisal ($300 to $600), and possible refinancing costs. Total: roughly $3,000 to $8,000 or more.
None of these ranges include the downstream costs of COBRA premiums, higher taxes under a single-filer status, or vehicle title transfers after the decree is signed.
How to Keep the Number Down
The most effective way to reduce cost is to do the hard work of reaching agreement before you involve anyone else. The more decisions you and your spouse have already settled, the less time an attorney, mediator, or preparer spends on your case. Sit down together and work through property division, debt allocation, and parenting arrangements before any first consultation.
A few specific levers help:
- For a case with no children, no real estate, and limited shared assets, an online divorce platform plus the filing fee may be all you need.
- Hire an attorney only for the pieces where mistakes get expensive. A one-hour review of your settlement agreement often beats full representation.
- Mediate before litigating. A single disagreement that escalates into a court hearing can cost more than the entire mediation would have.
- Share costs where you can. Some couples split a single mediator, or use one attorney to draft the agreement with the other spouse getting an independent review, which roughly halves the professional fees.
Timing matters too. If you’re near the end of the calendar year and the tax consequences of changing filing status would be significant, finalizing before or after December 31 may be worth planning around, depending on which status leaves you better off.
Uncontested is always cheaper than contested. It isn’t the same as cheap. Knowing where the costs hide lets you plan for them instead of finding them after the decree is signed.