The Kansas Divorce Kit
See a different stateKansas
Kansas gives you the forms for free. What it doesn’t give you is the order, the 60-day clock, the certification the clerk will bounce your filing over, or anyone to tell you which forms are actually yours. That’s this.
Put in the day you filed and this page works out every deadline in your case, then hands you a calendar file that reminds you a week before each one and again the day before. It opens in the calendar you already use. Free, no account, nothing stored.
1 · The two form sets, and what the rule requires
Kansas does not run a two-track system the way some states do — there is no separate “simplified” filing, and every divorce goes through the same forms and the same 60-day wait. What the Kansas Judicial Council does publish is two complete form sets, one for cases with minor children and one for cases without, and they are not interchangeable. Inside each set, how the other spouse comes into the case decides whether there is a service step at all.
Residency first. K.S.A. 23-2703 requires one spouse to have been an actual resident of Kansas for 60 days immediately before filing. There is a narrow exception for someone stationed at a Kansas military post or reservation.
Divorce without minor children
K.S.A. ch. 23, art. 27; Kansas Judicial Council forms, Rev. 06/2025–07/2025
The Judicial Council’s without-children set: instructions, civil cover sheet, petition, Domestic Relations Affidavit, the vital-statistics registration worksheet, a Notice of Hearing, and the decree.
This set applies where all of these are true:
- The spouses have no minor children together, born to either of them.
- Neither spouse is pregnant.
This is the set that includes the Worksheet for Divorce/Annulment Registration and the Notice of Hearing, and the Answer forms the responding spouse uses once served.
Divorce with minor children
K.S.A. ch. 23, art. 27; Kansas Child Support Guidelines
The same shape of case, with three additions: the Domestic Relations Affidavit is required, a Parenting Plan sets out proposed custody, residency and parenting time, and a Child Support Worksheet runs the Guidelines calculation.
This set applies where either of these is true:
- The spouses have minor children together, born to either of them.
- Either spouse is pregnant.
The responding spouse’s forms on this set are published as a group rather than as individual PDFs; the link in the table opens that group.
How the other spouse comes into the case
Either set can run two ways, and this is what decides whether a sheriff or process server is involved.
Where the other spouse signs on voluntarily:
- They sign a Voluntary Entry of Appearance, which replaces formal service. It should be dated after the petition and filed alongside the case.
Where they do not:
- A Summons and Return of Service is issued and served, and on the without-children set a Request and Service Instruction Form tells the clerk how service is to be made.
- The other spouse then files an Answer — agreeing or disagreeing with the petition.
The Self-Represented Litigant Certification (OJA 218) certifies that a filing is redacted under Supreme Court Rule 24. It is required on every self-represented filing, on both sets and both service routes, and it cannot be skipped. Neither can the 60-day wait be shortened: agreeing on everything does not speed it up, because Kansas has no separate fast-track filing.
2 · Every form Kansas publishes for a divorce
The complete list, not a shortlist — because which forms are needed depends on facts only you and, if you need one, your lawyer can weigh. Each row says which set it belongs to and carries the revision date the clerk checks. Every one is free.
The Cusp is not a law firm and cannot tell you which forms are right for your case. Everything here is general information about how Kansas handles divorce, and every form below is published free by Kansas itself — you do not have to buy anything from anyone to get them. If your situation is not straightforward, a consultation with a Kansas family lawyer costs far less than fixing a filing that went wrong.
| Form | What it is | Route | Rev. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instructions for Filing Divorce — Without Children | Kansas Judicial Council’s step-by-step walkthrough | Divorce without minor children | 06/25 | Download |
| Instructions for Filing Divorce — With Children | Kansas Judicial Council’s step-by-step walkthrough | Divorce with minor children | 06/25 | Download |
| Civil Cover Sheet (ODY) | Required by the clerk to open the case file | Divorce without minor children | 08/22 | Download |
| Civil Cover Sheet (ODY) | Required by the clerk to open the case file | Divorce with minor children | 08/22 | Download |
| Self-Represented Litigant Certification (OJA 218) | Certifies the filing is redacted per Supreme Court Rule 24 — required on every self-represented filing | All | 07/25 | Download |
| Petition for Divorce — Without Children | The document that opens the case | Divorce without minor children | 06/25 | Download |
| Petition for Divorce — With Children | The document that opens the case | Divorce with minor children | 06/25 | Download |
| Voluntary Entry of Appearance | The other spouse signs this instead of being formally served | Divorce without minor children — where the spouse signs on | 06/25 | Download |
| Voluntary Entry of Appearance | The other spouse signs this instead of being formally served | Divorce with minor children — where the spouse signs on | 06/25 | Download |
| Request and Service Instruction Form | Tells the clerk how the other spouse is to be served | Divorce without minor children — where the spouse is served | 06/25 | Download |
| Summons and Return of Service | For the sheriff or process server to serve the other spouse | Divorce without minor children — where the spouse is served | 06/25 | Download |
| Summons and Return of Service | For the sheriff or process server to serve the other spouse | Divorce with minor children — where the spouse is served | 06/25 | Download |
| Domestic Relations Affidavit | Sworn financial statement | Divorce without minor children | 01/25 | Download |
| Domestic Relations Affidavit | Sworn financial statement — required with children in the case | Divorce with minor children | 01/25 | Download |
| Parenting Plan | Proposed custody, residency and parenting-time schedule | Divorce with minor children | 06/25 | Download |
| Child Support Worksheet | Kansas Child Support Guidelines calculation | Divorce with minor children | — | Download |
| Worksheet for Divorce/Annulment Registration | Vital-statistics worksheet filed with the court | Divorce without minor children | 11/19 | Download |
| Notice of Hearing | Sets and gives notice of the final hearing date | Divorce without minor children | 06/25 | Download |
| Answer to Petition — Agree (the other spouse files this) | If the other spouse agrees with the petition once served | Divorce without minor children — where the spouse is served | 06/25 | Download |
| Answer to Petition — Disagree (the other spouse files this) | If the other spouse contests any part of the petition | Divorce without minor children — where the spouse is served | 06/25 | Download |
| Responding to a Petition — With Children (the forms the other spouse uses) | Instructions, Answer, and related forms for the other spouse to respond | Divorce with minor children — where the spouse is served | — | Download |
| Decree of Divorce — Without Children | What the judge signs at the end | Divorce without minor children | 06/25 | Download |
| Decree of Divorce — With Children | What the judge signs at the end | Divorce with minor children | 06/25 | Download |
| Poverty Affidavit / Waiver of Filing Fee | Filed instead of paying the docket fee, where the filer qualifies | All | — | Download |
Every one of these is free. Download fresh each time — clerks reject superseded revisions. Full catalog: kjc.ks.gov/legal-forms/divorce.
3 · Getting the forms and filling them in
Nobody explains this part, so here it is. Every Kansas form is free, most are fillable on screen, and being self-represented (Kansas courts call it “pro se” in older material, “self-represented litigant” in current rules) is common enough that the courts publish a whole rulebook just for it.
You may e-file, but you do not have to Your choice
- Portal
- Kansas Courts eFiling (eFlex)
- Paper
- Still accepted — you can file over the counter.
- What it costs
- card surcharge Per the Douglas County District Court clerk's official page, e-filing payment is processed immediately through a virtual wallet: credit card carries a 4% fee, or a $2 flat fee for e-check. (These apply to attorney e-filers; pro se filers do not use the system.)y to attorney e-filers; pro se filers do
- Account
- Not applicable to self-represented parties — the Kansas eFiling system is closed to them. Douglas County District Court’s clerk states plainly: ‘eFiling is for Attorneys only. If you are a member of the public attempting to file with the District Court, do not use eFiling.’he public attempting to file w
- With a fee waiver
- Douglas County's clerk states poverty affidavits can waive fees if filed with the submission; no statewide statement on e-filing charges was found.
- Worth knowing
- Kansas is the inverse of the usual worry: a self-represented divorce filer cannot e-file even if they want to. They file paper with the Clerk of the District Court in person during business hours (or by mail/drop box). Kansas also uses a Self-Represented Litigant Certification Form (OJA 218) in district court practice. Readers should be warned that Kansas’s eFiling system has had documented outages, and the Supreme Court has previously adopted temporary rules for district court filing during them.
Step one — download them free
All of Kansas’s statewide divorce forms live with the Kansas Judicial Council:
kjc.ks.gov/legal-forms/divorce — and the state’s self-help site publishes plain-language checklists for both tracks: without children and with children.
Don’t reuse a saved copy or one a friend used last year. Most of these forms were revised in June 2025, and the Self-Represented Litigant Certification was revised in July 2025. The revision date (“Rev. 06/25”) is printed in the corner of every page.
Step two — fill them in on screen
Kansas Judicial Council forms are fillable PDFs. Open them in Adobe Acrobat Reader (free), type directly into the fields, and print. Write “N/A” anywhere something doesn’t apply rather than leaving it blank — a blank field reads as “I forgot this” to a clerk, not “not applicable.”
Step three — redact before you file (this is the part most states don’t have)
Kansas Supreme Court Rule 24 bars certain personal identifiers from anything you file — full Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, dates of birth beyond the year, driver’s license numbers, and more (see the full list in Section 6). Before you file anything, you attach Form OJA 218, the Self-Represented Litigant Certification, certifying either that your document is clean or that you’re asking the court to seal it. This isn’t optional paperwork — it’s required on every filing by a self-represented party.
Kansas Judicial Council forms already limit what you type in — but your Domestic Relations Affidavit and any attachments (pay stubs, account statements) are exactly where full account numbers and full birthdates sneak in. Redact everything down to the last four digits, use only the birth year, and attach Form OJA 218 to the front of your filing. Missing it, or filing an unredacted document, is one of the most common reasons a self-represented filing gets rejected or has to be refiled.
Step four — sign, and get the Domestic Relations Affidavit sworn
Your petition itself is just signed — no notary required. But the Domestic Relations Affidavit is a sworn statement, and needs a notary or the deputy clerk to witness your signature. Kansas allows remote online notarization for these documents; national services (Proof, BlueNotary, Notarize) or a bank branch both work, usually for $0–$25.
Step five — file them, in person or by mail
Kansas’s statewide eFiling system (kscourts.gov/eCourt/Kansas-Courts-eFiling) is mandatory for attorneys, but the Judicial Council’s own filing instructions describe self-represented filers calling the clerk and filing on paper — some districts allow self-represented e-filing by local option, others don’t. Call the clerk of your county’s district court before you show up to confirm whether they take paper only, e-file, or both, and to ask the exact docket fee, since a small legislatively-set surcharge on top of the base fee has changed in recent years (see Section 8).
File a Poverty Affidavit instead of paying (K.S.A. 60-2001(b)). If you truly can’t pay by reason of poverty, no fee is required — the court reviews the affidavit rather than a clerk simply waving it through, so fill in the actual numbers on your income. Forms: kjc.ks.gov/legal-forms/poverty-affidavit.
4 · Your deadlines, calculated
Kansas divorces run off two dates: the day you file, and the day your spouse is served (if they aren’t signing on voluntarily). Put in what you have and we’ll turn Kansas’s statutes into actual dates on your calendar — then add them to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook in one click.
5 · The order it actually happens in
6 · The rejection-proofing checklist
This is the part that’s genuinely worth paying for. These are the specific things that get Kansas filings bounced or delayed — every one of them costs weeks.
The redaction trap
Full Social Security numbers, financial/bank/credit account numbers, driver’s license and passport numbers, dates of birth beyond the year, and the names of minors who aren’t parties — all must be cut down to the last 4 digits (or omitted) unless a specific exception applies. This is the single most Kansas-specific trap in this whole process, because most people have never filed anything under a rule like this before.
Forms people forget
Timing
The 60 days runs from filing, not from service. People who count from the day their spouse was served consistently try to schedule their hearing too early — and it’s the filing date in K.S.A. 23-2708 that controls. Maintenance you didn’t ask for isn’t automatically on the table. If you want the court to consider spousal maintenance, say so in your petition — courts generally rule on what was actually requested, so if you’re unsure whether yours covers it, ask the clerk about amending your petition before the hearing rather than raising it for the first time that day.
7 · The Domestic Relations Affidavit — what it requires
Required in every Kansas divorce with minor children, and in most without — filed with the court, not just exchanged. It’s a sworn statement, so it’s signed in front of a notary or deputy clerk, not just signed.
The Domestic Relations Affidavit is where full account numbers and full birthdates most often slip through by accident, because you’re transcribing them from real statements. Cut every account number down to the last four digits before it goes anywhere near the court file, and attach Form OJA 218 confirming you did.
8 · What this costs
Kansas’s core court costs are set by statute and the Supreme Court, so they’re the same at every courthouse in the state — Johnson, Sedgwick, and Shawnee County residents pay the same docket and service fees. What differs locally is whether a parenting class is required, what it costs, and what attorneys in that market charge if you decide you need one.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Docket fee to file (K.S.A. 60-2001) — statewide | ~$195 |
| Sheriff service of process, per person (K.S.A. 28-110) — statewide flat fee | $15 |
| Notary / remote online notarization for the Domestic Relations Affidavit | $0–$25 |
| Sedgwick County (18th District) Kids First Workshop, if required | $60 |
| Parenting class in other counties, if locally required | check with clerk |
| Certified copy of your signed Decree | small fee — check with clerk |
| Typical all-in, doing it yourselves, uncontested | ~$210–$280 |
K.S.A. 60-2001 sets a $173 base docket fee, plus a legislatively authorized additional charge that has historically brought the domestic-case total to around $195 at Kansas courthouses. Because that add-on is set (and re-set) by the legislature, call your county’s clerk of the district court and ask the exact current amount before you budget for it.
What member-reported attorney costs look like, illustrative only
The figures below are member-reported, illustrative demo data from The Cusp community — not a rate card, and not what any specific firm charges. They exist to show the rough gap between doing this yourself and hiring counsel.
| County | Uncontested, attorney-assisted | Contested, per side |
|---|---|---|
| Johnson County (10th District) | $1,800–$3,500 | $8,000–$20,000+ |
| Sedgwick County (18th District) | $1,200–$2,500 | $5,000–$14,000+ |
| Shawnee County (3rd District) | $1,000–$2,200 | $4,500–$12,000+ |
What this is. A guide to Kansas’s own process, built from the Kansas Family Law Code (K.S.A. Chapter 23, including §§ 23-2701, 23-2703, 23-2708, 23-2902), K.S.A. 60-212 and 60-2001, K.S.A. 28-110, Kansas Supreme Court Rule 24 and the Temporary Rule for Filing in a District Court by a Self-Represented Litigant, and the official forms and instructions published by the Kansas Judicial Council at kjc.ks.gov and the Kansas courts’ self-help site at self-help.kscourts.gov. The forms themselves are free and this kit links you to them rather than reselling them.
What this is not. The Cusp is not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here tells you which choice is right for your particular situation — only what Kansas requires of each path. If your case involves contested custody, a business, hidden assets, domestic violence, or a spouse with a lawyer, talk to an attorney; many offer free consultations, and one hour of advice is cheaper than a filing that gets bounced or a hearing that gets continued. Court clerks — including any deputy clerk who witnesses a signature — are not permitted to give legal advice.
Confirm current numbers with the clerk. Docket fees, local parenting-class requirements, and whether e-filing is available to self-represented parties vary by county and change over time. Where this kit could not verify an exact figure, link, or local requirement with confidence, it says so or points you to your county’s clerk of the district court rather than guessing.
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The most expensive mistakes in a divorce are made in the year after it, by people who thought the case was over. After the divorce is the checklist for that year — the health-coverage clock, the retirement order a decree cannot replace, and the beneficiary form that outranks your will.
Filing is one household becoming two, and the second one starts empty. The two-household list is what to send the people who keep asking how they can help — the second of everything, and the half of it that costs nothing. Some people call it a divorce registry.