The same divorce, priced and timed in every state
Nothing about a divorce is national. The filing fee runs from $50 base / $89 / confirm w/ clerk in Virginia to $435 / $435 in California — 8.7 times the price for the same legal act. 15 states let a judge sign the day you ask; California makes you wait 6 months from service. Every figure below is sourced, and the ones we have not finished say so.
The spread in filing fees between the cheapest state (Virginia, $50 base / $89 / confirm w/ clerk) and the dearest (California, $435 / $435).
States where the filing fee changes depending on which county you file in. A single national figure is wrong in all of them.
States where a self-represented filer cannot simply choose: 5 must file on paper, 3 must e-file.
Official state forms catalogued, 803 carrying the revision date a clerk actually checks.
Compare all fifty
Type a state, or sort by what you care about. Each state name links to its full guide — the forms, the deadlines and the costs in detail. Sorting uses an approximate day count so the columns can be ordered; the text in each cell is the exact sourced wording, which is what you should rely on.
| State | Filing fee | Waiting period | Residency required | E-filing, self-represented | Official forms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $324 / $227 / $199 / check w/ clerk varies by county | 30 days from filing | 6 months before filingAla. Code § 30-2-5 | Your choice | 19 newest rev. 12/21 |
| Alaska | $250 | No statutory minimum — the hearing is scheduled under the Alaska Rules of Civil ProcedureAS 25.24.220 | No minimum duration — no residency waiting period | Required of you | 40 newest rev. 12/25 |
| Arizona | $261 / $376 / $436 / $321 varies by county | 60 days from serviceA.R.S. § 25-329 | 90 days before filing (or active-duty stationed here 90+ days)A.R.S. § 25-312 | Your choice | 34 |
| Arkansas | $165 | 30 days from filing — but where residency began recently, the 3-months-before-decree rule may control instead | 60 days before filing, and continued residence through 3 full months before the decreeArk. Code § 9-12-307(a)(1)(A) | Your choice | 7 |
| California | $435 / $435 varies by county | 6 months from service | 6 months in the state AND 3 months in the filing county — both | Your choice | 26 newest rev. new 07/26 |
| Colorado | $260 / $146 varies by county | 91 days, running from the filing date | 91 days domiciled before filingC.R.S. § 14-10-106(1)(a)(I) | Your choice | 15 newest rev. 12/25 |
| Connecticut | $360 | 90 days on the regular docket; about 30 days on nonadversarial dissolutionCGS § 46b-67 | 12 months before filing or before the decree, or domiciled here at the marriage and returned intending to stayCGS § 46b-44 | Not confirmed | 22 newest rev. 12/21 |
| Delaware | $165 / $10 varies by county | Set by the separation date — none at all on the misconduct ground13 Del. C. §§ 1503, 1505(b)(2) | 6 consecutive months before filing (or stationed here in the military)13 Del. C. § 1504 | Paper only | 13 newest rev. 12/25 |
| Florida | ~$400 | 20 days from filing before any final judgment | 6 months before filing | Your choice | 29 newest rev. 10/23 |
| Georgia | ~$218–223 | 31 days after service where an Answer is filed; 46 days where none ever isUSCR 24.6 | 6 months before filingO.C.G.A. § 19-5-2 | Depends on your county | 11 newest rev. online tool |
| Hawaii | $100.00 | No hard statutory floor — typically 6–10 weeks in practice | 6 continuous months in the state AND 3 continuous months in the filing circuitHRS § 580-1 | Your choice | 52 newest rev. 12/21 |
| Idaho | $207 | 21 days from service before default papers may be prepared, then 6 days after a Notice of Intent to Take Default; a separate 20-day reconciliation period exists under I.C. § 32-716Idaho CAO D Instruction 7-1; Idaho Code § 32-716 | 6 full weeks immediately before filingIdaho Code § 32-701 | Your choice | 26 newest rev. 11/17 |
| Illinois | $388 / $350 / $334 varies by county | No fixed statewide floor beyond the 90-day residency rule | 90 continuous days before the court can enter judgment750 ILCS 5/401(a) | Required of you | 31 newest rev. 12/24 |
| Indiana | $177 / $177 / $157–$177 varies by county | 60 days from the date of filingInd. Code § 31-15-2-10 | 6 months in the state AND 3 months in the filing countyInd. Code § 31-15-2-6 | Your choice | 4 |
| Iowa | $285 | 90 days | 1 year before filing — unless the respondent lives in Iowa and is personally served there, when it does not apply at allIowa Code § 598.5(1)(k) | Required of you | 28 newest rev. 06/24 |
| Kansas | ~$195 | 60 days from filing before the case can be heardK.S.A. 23-2708 | 60 days immediately before filingK.S.A. 23-2703 | You file on paper | 24 newest rev. 11/19 |
| Kentucky | $208 | 60 days after service before the Deposition of Petitioner can be signedKRS 403.044 | 180 days next preceding the filing of the petitionKRS 403.140 | You file on paper | 19 newest rev. 12/23 |
| Louisiana | not on one table | Depends entirely on the ground — none on certain fault grounds; Arts. 102 and 103 differ on whether the wait precedes filingLa. Civ. Code Arts. 102, 103 | Domiciled in Louisiana at the time of filing — no fixed number-of-months requirementCode Civ. Pro. Art. 10(A)(7) | Your choice | 9 |
| Maine | $120 | No waiting period in the divorce procedure statute — the operative clocks run from service19-A M.R.S. § 901 (checked) | 6 months (plaintiff)19-A M.R.S. § 901 | Your choice | 15 newest rev. 12/20 |
| Maryland | $165 | None on irreconcilable differences — no waiting period and no separation requirementMd. Family Law § 7-103(a)(2) | 6 months before filing where the grounds arose outside Maryland; where they arose in Maryland, current residence is enoughMd. Family Law § 7-101 | Your choice | 20 newest rev. 10/25 |
| Massachusetts | $215 / $22 varies by county | 1B: 6 months from filing before a hearing can even be held. 1A joint petition: no six-month floorMGL c.208 § 1B | 1 year before filing, OR domiciled here now with the cause arising here while the spouses lived here togetherMGL c.208 § 5 | Your choice | 15 |
| Michigan | $150 | 60 days from filing with no minor children; 6 months from filing with minor children under 18 | 180 days in the state AND 10 days in the filing county; neither can be waived by agreementMCL 552.9(1) | Your choice | 15 newest rev. varies |
| Minnesota | $402 / $405 / $405 varies by county | No fixed statutory waiting period for most divorces | 180 days immediately before filing (residence, domicile, or military stationing)Minn. Stat. § 518.07 | Your choice | 22 |
| Mississippi | Under $100 (call the chancery clerk to confirm — set by county) / Higher — check with your chancery clerk varies by county | 60 days on file before the case can be heard on the consent trackMiss. Code § 93-5-2 | 6 months immediately before filing, actual and bona fideMiss. Code § 93-5-5 | You file on paper | 10 |
| Missouri | $144.50 / $148.50 / check with the circuit clerk varies by county | 30 days after filing before a judge can enter judgmentRSMo 452.305 | 90 days immediately before filing (or a service member stationed here)RSMo 452.305 | Your choice | 13 newest rev. 12/2025 |
| Montana | $200 | No 90-day floor from filing | 90 days of maintained domicile before filingM.C.A. § 40-4-104(1)(a) | Your choice | 38 newest rev. 9/21 |
| Nebraska | $200 | 60 days, running from service or Voluntary Appearance — not from filingNeb. Rev. Stat. § 42-363 | 1 full year of actual residence with intent to make a permanent homeNeb. Rev. Stat. § 42-349 | Your choice | 39 |
| Nevada | $299 / $284 / check with your county district court clerk varies by county | No statutory waiting period | 6 weeks before the case is filedNRS 125.020(2) | Your choice | 21 |
| New Hampshire | $280.00 | None where a permanent agreement is attached — the decree is effective the day it is signedFamily Division Rule 2.29(A) | On the day of filing: both spouses live here, OR the petitioner lives here and the other spouse can be personally served here, OR the petitioner has been domiciled here a full yearRSA 458:5 | Your choice | 18 |
| New Jersey | $300 | None stated for the no-fault ground; none at all on adultery | 1 full year before filing — no waiting period where the ground is adulteryN.J.S.A. 2A:34-10 | Your choice | 19 newest rev. 11/24 |
| New Mexico | $137 | No fixed statutory waiting period before a decree can be signed | 6 months immediately before filing, plus genuine domicileNMSA 40-4-5 | Your choice | 26 |
| New York | $335 | 40 days — waivable by the defendant signing the Affirmation of Defendant (UD-7) | Any ONE of four tests: 2 years continuous; or 1 year plus a marriage/residence nexus; or the grounds arose here and both live here; or married here, lived here, and 1 year continuous | Your choice | 26 newest rev. 12/23/25 |
| North Carolina | $225.00 | None beyond the one-year separation itself | 6 months before filingN.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-6 | Your choice | 11 newest rev. 12/23 |
| North Dakota | $160 / $100 varies by county | No minimum waiting period in the divorce chapterN.D.C.C. ch. 14-05 (checked) | 6 months immediately before filing OR 6 months immediately before the decree is enteredN.D.C.C. § 14-05-17 | Your choice | 34 newest rev. 10/25 |
| Ohio | $225–275 / $150–300 / $325–375 varies by county | Dissolution: the final hearing must fall between 30 and 90 days after filing, and the case can be dismissed after day 90. Divorce: nothing final before 42 days after serviceR.C. 3105.64; Ohio Civ.R. 75(K) | 6 months in the state AND 90 days in the filing county — separate clocks | Your choice | 21 |
| Oklahoma | $258.39 / $154.14–$252.14 / $252.14 / $252.14 varies by county | 90 days where there are minor children — waivable only for good cause and only if neither spouse objects; no fixed floor otherwise | 6 months immediately before the petition is filed (or 6 months on a U.S. military post in the state)43 O.S. § 102 | Your choice | 14 |
| Oregon | $301 | No fixed statutory waiting period after filing | 6 continuous months before filing — unless the marriage took place in Oregon, when current residence is enoughORS 107.075 | Your choice | 23 newest rev. 09/25 |
| Pennsylvania | $333.73 / $195.25 / $398.00 / varies — ask the Prothonotary varies by county | 90 days from filing and service on mutual consent; a full year of separation where only one spouse consents23 Pa.C.S. §§ 3301(c)(1), 3301(d) | 6 months before filing, bona fide resident23 Pa.C.S. § 3104(b) | Your choice | 19 |
| Rhode Island | $120.00 | 3 months after the trial and decision before the Final Judgment becomes final and operative on irreconcilable differences or a fault ground — 20 days on the 3-year separation groundR.I. Gen. Laws § 15-5-23 | 1 year as a domiciled inhabitant residing continuously — satisfied instead if the defendant meets the same test and is servedR.I. Gen. Laws § 15-5-12 | Your choice | 13 newest rev. 09/23 |
| South Carolina | $150 | 2 months before a reference and 3 months before a final decree, counted from filing — but NOT on the one-year-separation ground, which is South Carolina’s own no-fault ground: there the hearing may be held and the decree issued once responsive pleadings are filed or the respondent is in defaultS.C. Code § 20-3-80 | 1 year (plaintiff) — or 3 months where both spouses live in South CarolinaS.C. Code § 20-3-30 | Your choice | 20 newest rev. 12/15 |
| South Dakota | $97 | 60 days from service — applies to all three tracks | Resident at the time the action is filed — no fixed number of days required by statuteSDCL § 25-4-30 | Your choice | 25 newest rev. 07/26 |
| Tennessee | not on one table | 60 days without a minor child; 90 days with one | 6 months before filingTenn. Code Ann. § 36-4-104 | Your choice | 4 newest rev. 01/21 |
| Texas | $350 / $365 / $350 / $401 / $350 varies by county | 60 days from the date the suit was filed — "the court may not grant a divorce before the 60th day"Tex. Family Code § 6.702(a) | 6 months domiciled in the state AND 90 days resident in the filing countyTex. Family Code § 6.301 | Your choice | 27 newest rev. 11-2021 |
| Utah | $325 | 30 days, and the same period applies to every divorceUtah Code Title 81 | 90 days in the county where the case is filed — county, not just the stateUtah Code § 81-4-402(1) | Your choice | 17 |
| Vermont | $295.00 / $90.00 / $180.00 varies by county | The decree is a decree nisi and becomes absolute only 90 days after entry; 1 year of residency is also needed before the final hearing15 V.S.A. §§ 554, 592 | 6 months to file; 1 year before the final hearing15 V.S.A. § 592 | Your choice | 19 |
| Virginia | $50 base / $89 / confirm w/ clerk varies by county | 6 months where there are no minor children and a written agreement; otherwise 1 year of separationVa. Code § 20-91(A)(9)(a) | 6 months before filing, actual bona fide resident and domiciliaryVa. Code § 20-97 | Your choice | 11 newest rev. 07/24 (instructions) |
| Washington | $364 | 90 days — the same floor for every case, agreed or notRCW 26.09.030 | No minimum duration — residence or domicile is enough | Your choice | 22 newest rev. 10/23 |
| West Virginia | $135 | No statutory floor found in the divorce article — § 48-5-501 governs temporary relief only; the operative clocks run from serviceW. Va. Code art. 48-5 (checked) | 1 uninterrupted year where the marriage took place elsewhere; otherwise current residency | You file on paper | 17 newest rev. 12/24 |
| Wisconsin | $184.50 / $194.50 varies by county | 120 days — no final hearing before 120 days after service (filing alone) or after filing (joint petition)Wis. Stat. § 767.335(1) | 6 months in the state AND 30 days in the filing countyWis. Stat. § 767.301 | Your choice | 22 newest rev. 12/22 |
| Wyoming | $160 | 20 days from the date the complaint is filed — "a divorce decree shall not be entered less than twenty (20) days from the date the complaint is filed"Wyo. Stat. § 20-2-108 | 60 days immediately before filing — or the marriage took place in Wyoming with one spouse living here sinceWyo. Stat. § 20-2-107 | Your choice | 76 newest rev. 12/25 |
Where these numbers come from
Six fields, four different levels of certainty. Here is which is which.
- Filing fee and official forms — read straight out of the cost table and form table on each state guide, where they were authored as those values. 48 of 50 fees; 1,101 form records.
- E-filing access for a self-represented filer — from our fifty-state e-filing audit, which read each court system’s own e-filing rules. Four state systems will not let a self-represented person e-file a divorce at all.
- Residency and waiting period — these are written in prose, not tables. A pattern was used to surface candidate sentences and then every one of the hundred was read by hand and the value typed from the sentence. The citation shown is the one the source gives; where a source states a rule without citing it, no citation is shown rather than one we supplied. 43 of 50 residency values and 30 of 50 waiting-period values carry a citation.
- Eight waiting periods were not stated on our own guides. Rather than leave holes or guess, each was checked against the statute. Two of the eight found a fact missing from our own page, and both are now corrected: Wyoming’s 20-day floor on entering a decree (Wyo. Stat. § 20-2-108) and South Carolina’s two-months-to-reference, three-months-to-decree rule (S.C. Code § 20-3-80).
- The fee-waiver threshold is not on this page. It is the sixth field and it is unfinished. We would rather show five fields than print a sixth we have not read state by state.
Dataset version 1.0.0, content hash 513f9d43c885c06d, generated 2026-09-14. Every mistake we have found and fixed is listed, with its severity, on our corrections page.
Need the detail for your state?
Every state has a full guide: the forms with revision dates, the real cost table, and a deadline calculator that exports to your calendar.
Dating this page honestly. It was first published on 13 September 2026, and the sources named on it were read in the course of writing it. That is a publication date, not a re-check date — we have not re-read every source since, and we are not going to print a “sources last checked” stamp for a check that did not happen. When this page is next swept against its sources, the stamp will change and say so.