How much does a divorce cost?

I am being tongue in cheek here, but my lawyer did mention something like "your divorce will cost you as much as you can afford". Personally, I would say it could cost you more than you can afford. Every discussion, every negotiation, every disagreement will cost you or someone time and, hence, money. Mediation can help keep costs in control, but it takes two to mediate effectively.

Update: I remember what he said - it was almost 20 years ago. I was inquiring about some issue in contention and he said: "Do you want to give me your house?"

There really is no ballpark figure for how much this will cost because many factors are involved that can make it really cheap or really expensive.

Things to consider:

State/local filing fees

Attorney's fees or mediation fees

Do you intend to do any legwork yourself to minimize the expense? I.e. obtaining, completing, and filing court documents. Some documents are quite simple to do on your own and would not be subject to the costs related to your attorney's billable time on your case.

How much paid/unpaid time you must take from work to get through the divorce process.

The longer it takes to reach settlement, the more it will cost.

I did my divorce via a mediator and filed all of the court documents myself. This was in 2001 and it cost roughly $2,200. A co-worker spent 3 years in settlement/custody negotiations in the mid-90s and it cost him $50,000. Quite a gap in the two situations.

I heard a figure on a radio show recently that said the average mediation costs $4,000 and an average divorce costs $27,000.

Hope this answer helps to ballpark it a bit for you.

It depends on where you live and whether you have assets or not. If not assets than you can go pro-per or pay for a para legal. If you have assets than you should get a lawyer. Since you did not indicate where you live it would be hard to tell you as each state has its own cost. Look up the Superior Court of your state and go to the self service link there you should find all the forms, costs and etc. Most also have deferment or waiver if you cannot pay for it right away. You can also get info for the Courts law Library and the County Clerk office. Just do not ask legal questions as they will not answer them, only about forms and costs is what they will answer.

an arm and a leg. Often times, your heart too.

Sadly, sometimes it is worth it. Looking back, my divorce was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was surprised, life did go on. The banks opened the next day, so did Walmart. The rest of the world went on just like nothing had happened!

I did discover later, there IS someone for everyone.

That depends on a number of things: (1) where you live; (2) how good your lawyer is; (3) whether or not you have children, property and other assets; (4) and most importantly, the willingness of your spouse to cooperate. If they don't, it will take forever and it will cost you a mint. I know a guy whose wife had him hung up in court for 3 years and it cost him over $100,000 to finally get rid of her

It will cost you roughly 50% of your net assets plus legal fees. Sometimes, only if you are still on speaking terms with your wife, the two of you could reach a settlement between the two of you, ithout lawyers and mediators.

When I divorced my wife she kept the family home and I kept all the other assets like the business, the shares and the beach house.

If you have no property or children and the divorce is uncontested, the cheapest divorce you can get is in the ballpark of $500.

I can give you a accurate answer based on all the paperwork, courts cost, stamps, legal documents and such. A Divorce in all of the states is much more expensive than the cost of getting married. After that it is up to you and the more work you do to familiarize yourself with the case and legal or non legal options, the less you would spend. But if you chose to go to court, no matter how well you are prepared, predicting the outcome is as reliable predicting the outcome of playing "CRAPS". The unknown is the judge thoughts. Am I feeling lucky today. Naturally you can 'make a appeal', just add money, the main ingredient for "making appeals" (a joke).

I have 3 children and a wife, that does not want to get a divorce. I have full custody of my 3 children and a scheduled divorce date and property settlement. So, here's what I paid and my answer if you are a Dad and want your children be prepared to spend a min. of 50,000.00 just on custody and then another 15,000.00 to settle the divorce. That is what I paid and worth every cent.

Always best to avoid attorneys whenever possible in divorce. Make an agreement in advance with spouse to that effect, and be sure that both people can stick to it. Hope you are able to judge this well, or you may be out of luck. But in such case, you may have bigger problems than just a divorce.