Do you have to e-file your divorce?
Less often than you would think. In 25 states the choice is yours. In 18 the court will not let you e-file a divorce at all, and in three it requires you to. Nearly every state advertises that it has e-filing; that is a different claim from whether the portal is open to someone filing without a lawyer, and the two answers disagree more often than they agree.
Every clerk publishes the rule for one county. Nobody publishes the comparison, because no clerk covers two states. So this is the answer for all fifty, taken from each state's own court rule, administrative order or judiciary page, with the portal named and the cost of choosing to e-file separated from the filing fee you owe either way.
In this subject 6
All fifty, side by side
The cost column is what choosing to e-file adds — not the statutory filing fee, which you owe whichever way you file. 'Varies by court' marks the states where the portal, the cost or the rule itself is set below state level, so your county is the one that counts. Each state name links to its full kit.
| State | Do you have to? | Can you file paper? | What e-filing adds | Portal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee; 4% card surcharge | AlaFile (Alabama Judicial System E-Filing) |
| Alaska | Required of you | Only via an exemption — self-certifying | 3% processing fee at checkout (TrueFiling support, 21 October 2026; not a published court schedule) | TrueFiling (Alaska Court System eFiling) |
| Arizona | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | $6.50 per submission + 3% card | eFileAZ (statewide superior court portal) |
| Arkansas | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | eFlex — pro se accounts only where a court has already mandated e-filing |
| California | Your choicevaries by court | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | No statewide portal |
| Colorado | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | $18 a filing, + $18 to e-serve | Colorado Courts E-Filing (CCE) |
| Connecticut | Your choice | Yes — and required on two routes | No portal fee published | Connecticut Judicial Branch E-Services (Superior Court e-filing) |
| Delaware | Paper only | Yes — or by email to the Family Court’s divorce inbox (card payment only) | No e-filing in Family Court; no fee to file by email | No e-filing in Family Court (the divorce court) |
| Florida | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | Free by Supreme Court order; 3.5% card | Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (MyFLCourtAccess) |
| Georgia | Depends on your countyvaries by court | Depends on your circuit | $7 an envelope in Fulton; free at the courthouse terminal | eFileGA (Tyler/Odyssey), PeachCourt, and GreenFiling/InfoTrack |
| Hawaii | You file on paperopening the case | Yes — and required to open the case | Not open to you at filing | JEFS — self-represented parties cannot initiate a case |
| Idaho | Your choicelocked in once you start (I.R.E.F.S. 4(b)) | Yes, over the counter | No amount in the court’s rules; the State Law Library told us $6 per envelope (not in an official document) | Odyssey File and Serve (Idaho iCourt eFiling) |
| Illinois | Required of you | Only via an exemption — self-declared on a form | Free with the state providers | eFileIL |
| Indiana | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | Free with the state provider | Indiana E-Filing System (IEFS), free state provider at efile.incourts.gov |
| Iowa | Required of you | Only if the clerk grants good cause | No additional fee | EDMS (Electronic Document Management System) / Iowa eFile |
| Kansas | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | Kansas Courts eFiling (eFlex) |
| Kentucky | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you for a divorce | KYeCourts / File & Serve (eFiling) |
| Louisiana | Depends on your parishJefferson says yes outright | Yes, with the Clerk of Court for your parish | Set by each clerk; Jefferson charges no separate portal fee it publishes | No statewide trial-court portal — JeffNet, eFileLA and clerk systems by parish |
| Maine | Depends on your countyrollout in progress | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee; 2.89% card or $0.25 e-check | eFileMaine (Maine eCourts) |
| Maryland | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | MDEC |
| Massachusetts | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | $22 once, + 2.89% card | eFileMA |
| Michigan | Your choicevaries by courtrequired only in courts the State Court Administrative Office has approved; paper allowed for good cause (MCR 1.109(G)(3)(f)–(g)) | Yes, over the counter | A fee exists; the amount is not published | MiFILE (statewide e-filing solution) |
| Minnesota | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | $5 processing fee each time you pay a fee through eFS | eFile and eServe (eFS) |
| Mississippi | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | Mississippi Electronic Courts (MEC) |
| Missouri | Closed to youa switch exists, unthrown | Yes, and it is the route the largest circuits require of you | No portal cost to you, because you are not on the portal | Missouri eFiling System — attorneys and authorized agencies |
| Montana | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | Montana Courts E-Filing — not enabled for self-represented litigants |
| Nebraska | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | Nebraska eFiling — non-attorney registration not activated |
| Nevada | Your choicevaries by court — required in Washoe (Reno) | Yes, over the counter — except Washoe County, where everyone must e-file unless a judge grants an exemption (AO 2018-12) | Washoe: none; elsewhere no portal fee published | Varies by judicial district — Clark: Odyssey File & Serve; Washoe: eFlex |
| New Hampshire | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | NH e-Filing — divorce is not an eligible case type |
| New Jersey | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | No e-filing surcharge published | Judiciary Electronic Document Submission (JEDS) for self-represented filers |
| New Mexico | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | Odyssey File & Serve — closed to self-represented parties by rule |
| New York | Your choicevaries by courtyou can opt out any time (22 NYCRR 202.5-b) | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | New York State Courts Electronic Filing System (NYSCEF) |
| North Carolina | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | Not published as an amount | eCourts File & Serve |
| North Dakota | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | Odyssey File & Serve (North Dakota District Court E-Filing Portal) |
| Ohio | Your choicevaries by court | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | No statewide trial-court portal |
| Oklahoma | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | OSCN e-Filing — no pro se registration, and no new cases by anyone |
| Oregon | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | Oregon eCourt / OJD File & Serve |
| Pennsylvania | Your choicevaries by court | Yes, over the counter | Not uniform, and not published | No statewide portal |
| Rhode Island | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | eFileRI |
| South Carolina | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | SC E-Filing — attorneys only, and Common Pleas only |
| South Dakota | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | UJS eFile & Serve — self-represented litigants not eligible |
| Tennessee | Depends on your countyand on which court within it | Yes, accepted everywhere | Free to self-represented filers in Shelby; not published in Davidson | No statewide portal — eFileTN, eFlex or Tybera/TNCIS by court |
| Texas | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | eFileTexas |
| Utah | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | MyCase — divorce is not among its filing case types |
| Vermont | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | No portal fee published | Odyssey File & Serve (Vermont eFiling) |
| Virginia | Closed to youunless your circuit runs its own | Yes, with the Circuit Court clerk for your county or city | No portal cost to you on the statewide system; a circuit’s own portal sets its own | VJEFS, in 69 circuit courts — and alternative portals under Rule 1:17(b)(3) |
| Washington | Your choicevaries by court | Yes, over the counter | Free in King, Pierce and Snohomish; King adds $2.49 to a card payment; card fees apply on eFileWA | Set county by county: King (KC Script Portal), Pierce (LINX), and the 13 superior courts that take family cases on eFileWA; elsewhere no e-filing — paper |
| West Virginia | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | West Virginia Circuit and Family Courts E-File (CourtPLUS) |
| Wisconsin | Your choice | Yes, over the counter | $35 per filer per case | Wisconsin Circuit Court eFiling |
| Wyoming | You file on paper | Yes — it is your only route | Not open to you | Wyoming EFS — district court closed to self-represented filers |
Flags such as “locked in once you start” or “you can opt out any time” appear only where we have read the court’s own rule. A row without one means we have not yet checked that point, not that no rule exists.
The states where the answer is not simply yes
These are the ones worth reading before you drive anywhere. Three require e-filing of you and reach that result three different ways; seventeen will not let you near the system, for five different reasons; one has no system at all; four change by county or parish; and, as of 1 October 2026, none is unconfirmed.
Alaska You are expected to e-file
Alaska does mandate e-filing for self-represented parties. But the five exemptions are self-certifying — no documentation required — which in practice keeps paper available to a pro se filer who needs it. Once TrueFiling is live in your location, the rule is that 'paper documents may be filed with the court only when TrueFiling is unavailable.'
Illinois You are expected to e-file
The clearest mandate in the country: Rule 9 reaches 'all documents in civil cases,' divorce included, and not only attorneys. But the exemption is broad and self-declared on a standard form, and the form itself is filed in person or by mail — so a filer who cannot e-file can still walk into the clerk's office to say so. Questions about e-filing in a circuit court go to Illinois Court Help, by call or text at (833) 411-1121, not to the Supreme Court clerk.
Iowa You are expected to e-file
The strictest of the three. The rule puts 'all self-represented persons' in the same sentence as attorneys, and the automatic exemptions — criminal defendants, confined persons, juvenile-case parents — do not cover a divorce petitioner. You must petition the clerk in writing for a good-cause exception under Rule 16.302(2)(c). Unlike Alaska and Illinois, you do not simply certify it yourself.
Kansas The system is closed to you
Douglas County District Court's clerk says it in as many words: 'eFiling is for Attorneys only. If you are a member of the public attempting to file with the District Court, do not use eFiling.' You file paper with the Clerk of the District Court, in person, by mail, or by drop box.
Kentucky Not for a divorce
A KYeCourts account offers 'Self-Represented Litigant' as an account type, which is why this one is so easy to get wrong. But the Court of Justice's own eCourts Help site states: 'At this time, self-represented litigants are only able to electronically file small claims cases.' Divorce is not on the list.
Mississippi Attorneys only, by rule
MEC Administrative Procedures Sec. 2.A: no person other than a registered attorney may register as a user, 'even if he or she is a party proceeding pro se.' Sec. 6.A.4.b requires your documents to be filed conventionally, and the clerk then uploads them for you. The system is live in all 82 counties, which changes nothing for you — it is the clerk using it.
West Virginia Attorneys only, by rule
Trial Court Rule 15A.04: 'Parties not represented by an attorney must file all Actions with the circuit clerk's office, who shall electronically file the Actions upon receipt.' CourtPLUS registration is limited to barred attorneys and government filers. That is the intended route, not a workaround.
New Mexico Prohibited, in one sentence
Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) NMRA does not hedge: self-represented parties 'are prohibited from electronically filing documents and shall continue to file documents through traditional methods.' New Mexico has a statewide portal and attorneys are required to use it — and must keep using it even when the other side is self-represented. There is no exemption to apply for, because there is no permission to be excepted from.
South Carolina Attorneys only — and the wrong court anyway
Two independent reasons, either of which settles it. The E-Filing Policies and Guidelines define an authorized e-filer as a licensed South Carolina attorney in good standing, and put everyone else in the 'traditional filer' category. Separately, the program's scope is the Court of Common Pleas. A South Carolina divorce is a Family Court matter, so it was never an eligible case type in the first place. The Judicial Branch says it plainly: 'Self-Represented Litigants, or Pro Se Litigants, may not E-File at this time.'
Wyoming The rule that replaced the rule
Until 2025 the Wyoming rules said the system was 'not presently available to pro se litigants' — soft language that read like a temporary state of affairs. That version has been replaced. The rules effective April 2025 say it outright at Rule 4(b)(2): self-represented litigants in district or circuit court 'may not eFile or eServe documents.' The change also narrowed it, and in your favor if you are in the right court — self-represented filers may now e-file in chancery court. A divorce is district court.
Utah Not barred — just not on the list
Nothing in Utah tells a self-represented person they may not e-file. The rule is permissive: UCJA 4-503(2)(A) offers them email, mail, MyCase, or in person. But MyCase publishes the case types it will accept — debt collection, eviction, small claims, name or sex designation change, adult protective orders, criminal and traffic — and divorce is not among them. 'If your type of case is not on this list, you cannot file through MyCase right now.' A closed door with no sign on it, which is the hardest kind to find before you have driven to the courthouse.
Hawaii You can e-file. You cannot start.
Hawaii splits the question in a way no other state does. A self-represented party may register for JEFS and e-file into a case that already exists — the rules provide for it explicitly. What they cannot do is open one: 'Under the Hawaii Electronic Filing and Service Rules, SRLs cannot initiate a case through JEFS.' For a divorce you are filing yourself, the half you cannot do is the half that comes first.
Delaware There is no system to use
Delaware Family Court — the divorce court — has no e-filing platform at all, so the mandatory-or-optional question never arises. Everyone files on paper, in person or by mail at a Family Court Resource Center, or by email: the Family Court’s own divorce instruction packet says the petition and required forms may be emailed to its divorce inbox, with the fee paid by card. The other Delaware courts' e-filing mandates do not touch divorce.
Georgia It depends on your circuit
In Georgia nobody can give you a single statewide answer, and you should not trust anyone who does — e-filing is set circuit by circuit. In Fulton County it is mandatory for a self-represented filer who has an email address, though the court removes the cost by letting you file free at a public access terminal in the courthouse, and a fee-waiver order exempts you from the fees entirely. Ogeechee also requires it. Gwinnett's rule reaches attorneys only.
Connecticut Your choice, with two paper-only routes
Connecticut runs one statewide Superior Court, so the answer does not change with your county — and the answer is now readable. The Civil & Family Procedures and Technical Standards, issued by the Chief Court Administrator under Practice Book § 4-4, effective 1 October 2026; the family provisions at §§ 3.2.2, 3.2.3.1, 3.2.3.5 and 11.2 are unchanged from the 23 January 2026 revision (re-read 1 October 2026) says at § 3.2.2 that electronic filing is mandatory for attorneys and law firms without an exemption and permitted for self-represented parties. Permitted, not required: if you are representing yourself you may e-file, and you may walk the paper to the clerk instead.
Two routes go the other way, and both matter here. A nonadversarial dissolution under CGS § 46b-44a cannot be started electronically (§ 3.2.3.1), and the Standards add that every document the court needs to enter judgment in one is filed at case initiation — so that route is paper from beginning to end. And once a fee waiver is granted, the case cannot be initiated electronically (§ 3.2.3.1) — but it does not stay on paper, which is the part that trips people. The same section requires subsequent motions, pleadings and documents in those cases to be filed electronically. What stays on paper afterwards is narrower: § 3.2.3.5 keeps any individual document whose own fee has been waived off the system. Paper to open it, the portal after that, paper again for a waived document. So the cheapest way to file is the one that must be started on paper — and then must not be continued on it.
Read 30 September 2026. The Standards, in full.
What choosing to e-file costs you
This is the part that surprises people, because it runs the opposite way to what you would expect. These are charges for the act of e-filing, on top of the statutory filing fee. Card and e-check surcharges are separate again and are listed per state in the table above.
Three things that get people wrong
'Mandatory' almost always means mandatory for attorneys
New York is the clearest case and the most often misdescribed. Even in a county where matrimonial e-filing is mandatory, an unrepresented spouse is exempt by rule and files on paper unless they ask to take part — and under 202.5-bb(e)(1) the clerk has to explain that choice in plain language first. The exemption survives in both the mandatory (202.5-bb) and consensual (202.5-b) programs. Washington settles the mandatory question at state level: GR 30 only lets a county make e-filing mandatory for attorneys, and requires that e-filing not become a barrier to access. Whether a self-represented filer can e-file a divorce at all is decided county by county: King and Pierce run their own systems, and each county on the shared eFileWA system chooses whether to take family filings.
E-filing can cost you more than paper
The instinct is that the electronic option is the cheap one. In Colorado a pro se filer pays $18 per filing to e-file, while court staff will scan paper documents for free. In Arkansas the account itself costs $100, and a self-represented person can only hold one in a case where the court has already ordered e-filing. Meanwhile the states that charge nothing for e-filing charge nothing for paper either. The filing fee does not move — it is only the surcharge that changes, and the surcharge is the part nobody looks up.
The escape hatch is not the same escape hatch
All three mandatory states have an exemption, and the difference between them is the whole difference between an afternoon and a month. Alaska's exemptions are self-certifying — no documentation. Illinois's is self-declared on a standard form you can hand over the counter. Iowa's requires you to petition the clerk in writing for good cause, and the clerk decides. Same headline, three different weeks of your life.
How to settle it yourself in one phone call
Ask the clerk two questions, in this order
- May I e-file?
- Will you take paper?
They are different questions, and in some counties they have different answers. A clerk who says 'we use eFileGA' has answered neither. If the answer to the second is no, ask what the exemption is called and whether you certify it yourself or have to ask the court for it — that is the answer that decides how long this takes.
Do not rely on the portal's front page. In every state where a pro se exemption exists, it lives in the court rule or an administrative order, not on the site that wants you to register.
What we could not confirm
Five gaps, named rather than filled
- Connecticut — whether e-filing is voluntary for a self-represented divorce filer. The pages stating the rule sit behind a block we will not work around.
- Michigan — an e-filing system fee applies to case-initiating filings where a civil commencement fee is authorized, but the amount is not stated on the SCAO pages read.
- Kentucky — Tyler's convenience fee is a percentage of the filing fees, and the percentage is not published on the AOC page.
- North Carolina — the official page names three categories of fee but no dollar amount for any of them.
- Pennsylvania and Tennessee — there is no statewide figure to give. Each judicial district or court sets its own, and in Nashville two courts in the same county answer differently.
Somebody is about to pay $100 for a portal they did not need
This is the question people get wrong most expensively, and it takes one link to fix. Nothing here asks for their real name, and nobody finds out they looked.
How this table was built
The source hierarchy, what counts as confirmed, where it is uncertain, and what happens when we get it wrong — written for anyone deciding whether to cite it.
The filing fee itself, for all fifty states
What it actually costs to file, traced to the statute or the court's own schedule.
Everything else about filing in your state
Forms, residency, waiting periods, service of process, and what happens to the house.
You may reuse this table. You do not need to ask.
Every clerk publishes the e-filing rule for one county. Nobody publishes the comparison, because no clerk covers two states. That is the only reason this table exists, and it is why we would rather it were copied than kept.
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Suggested citation. The Cusp, Do you have to e-file your divorce? All 50 states, thecusp.app/e-filing-by-state/ — verified 13 September 2026.
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