Divorce is one of the most financially consequential events a person can go through. The legal fees and court costs are just the beginning. From filing a petition to splitting retirement accounts to maintaining two households where there was once one, the total price tag of ending a marriage often far exceeds what people anticipate at the outset.
State Laws and Fees
State laws govern filing fees, waiting periods, mandatory mediation requirements, and how marital assets are divided. Each of these variables carries a price. For example, California has a $435 filing fee, with attorney fees averaging $13,800 for contested cases. Texas has a $300 average filing fee, with attorney costs running approximately $12,400.
In 2025, most state filing fees range from $70 to $435. That figure alone can differ by hundreds of dollars depending on where a couple lives. High-cost metro areas like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have the highest hourly attorney rates, driven largely by the overhead costs of operating law firms in those markets.
Cost of Divorce
According to Martindale-Nolo Research, the average cost of a divorce in the United States is $11,300, with a median of $7,000. However, for divorces that go to full litigation, costs can reach much higher. The issues most likely to push a divorce into contested territory are child custody, spousal support, and the division of significant assets.
A Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis analysis found that in 2022, women saw their income fall by 9% following a divorce, while men experienced a 17% decrease, with the steepest losses for men occurring in their 30s. Retirement savings take a particular hit, with the share of households at risk of a lower retirement living standard being 7 percentage points higher for those with a history of divorce than for comparable households with no prior divorce.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
