What a Vermont divorce actually costs to file.
Not a range, not an estimate, not a lawyer’s blog. Every figure below is traced to a statute, a court fee schedule, or a clerk’s own published page — and linked to it.
See a different stateVermont
It costs $90.00 to file for divorce in Vermont. Below is where that money goes, what it does not cover, and what to do if you do not have it.
Worth knowing before you file. Vermont is the rare state that discounts agreement: filing with a court-acceptable stipulation drops the divorce fee from $295 to $90 when at least one spouse is a Vermont resident — a 69% cut — but the discount is conditional, because if the case later becomes contested ‘the difference between the full fee and the reduced fee must be paid to the court before it issues a final order’ (32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(2)). Note also that paying by card through e-filing costs 2.89%, more than the 2.39% charged at the counter (4 V.S.A. § 1109(f)).
Where the money goes
These are Vermont’s published FEE TIERS, not a breakdown of a single fee into earmarked parts. Vermont publishes no earmark/component split of the divorce filing fee itself, and none has been invented.
| Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Filing for entry of divorce, annulment, or dissolution of civil union or legal separation — WITHOUT a stipulationDefault/contested rate. 32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(2) | $295.00 |
| WITH a stipulation, and one or both parties are Vermont residentsThe judiciary defines a stipulation as ‘a condition or a requirement in an agreement’ that ‘must be acceptable to the court.’ 32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(2) | $90.00 |
| WITH a stipulation, but NEITHER party is a Vermont resident 32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(2) | $180.00 |
| Balance due if a stipulated case later becomes contestedPublished verbatim: ‘If the case becomes contested, the difference between the full fee and the reduced fee must be paid to the court before it issues a final order.’ No dollar figure is stated because it depends on which tier was originally paid. 32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(2) | difference between the full fee and the reduced fee |
Does it change by county?
No — the fee is the same everywhere in Vermont
The Vermont Superior Court is a single unified statewide court that sits in county-based units; the divorce fee is fixed by statute (32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(2)) and published once for the whole Family Division. The Judiciary states ‘The Vermont Legislature sets most of the fees charged for services provided by the Judiciary.’ No county-level variation is published.
What the filing fee does not cover
The filing fee is usually the smallest predictable number in a divorce. This is where the rest of the budget lives — and where “not published” appears most often.
Nothing extra to e-file
We looked for a portal fee and a card surcharge in Vermont and found neither published. That is not the same as a guarantee — clerks can charge for things they do not put on a web page — but there is no extra charge we can point you at. Whether you have to e-file at all is on the Vermont kit.
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Credit-card convenience fee — online or over-the-counter paymentsConfirmed twice on the same official page: in the Miscellaneous Fees table and in the ‘How to Pay the Filing Fee’ narrative (‘There is a 2.39% convenience fee to pay by credit card’). 4 V.S.A. § 1109(f) | 2.39% of the payment |
| Credit-card convenience fee — electronic filingE-filing carries a higher card rate than paying at the counter. 4 V.S.A. § 1109(f) | 2.89% of the payment |
| Payment by eCheckListed in the Miscellaneous Fees table with no statute cited. | $1.00 |
| Mail service of pleadings — certified mail, restricted deliveryListed under Family Division Fees; the fee page marks the statute column ‘N/A’ for this item. | $18.50 |
| Mail service of pleadings — first class with acknowledgmentListed under Family Division Fees; statute column marked ‘N/A’. | $3.00 |
| Sheriff / constable service of process, per respondentNOT PUBLISHED on the Vermont Judiciary’s statewide fee page. The page lists only court-performed mail service ($18.50 / $3.00). Vermont sheriff civil-process rates are not on the judiciary fee schedule and were not located on an official source. | not published |
| COPE (Coping With Separation and Divorce) parent education programNO FEE PUBLISHED by the Judiciary, and NOT automatically mandatory. The Judiciary states: ‘If you have a minor child or children you MAY BE ORDERED by the court to attend the Coping With Separation and Divorce (COPE) program.’ The program is administered by UVM Extension, not the Judiciary, and the Judiciary directs filers to UVM for ‘registering and the schedule of seminars’ without quoting a price. | not published |
| Court-ordered family mediationThe Judiciary operates a Family Mediation Program and publishes a roster of family law mediators, but no fee is listed on the statewide fee schedule and none was located on an official source. | not published |
| Motion or petition to modify or vacate a final order for parental rights and responsibilities, parent-child contact, or maintenancePost-judgment. Motions filed by one party at one time are assessed one fee. 32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(4) | $120.00 without a stipulation; $35.00 with a stipulation |
| Motion or petition to modify or vacate child supportA motion to ENFORCE an order of child support carries no fee at all. 32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(5) | $45.00 without a stipulation; no fee with a stipulation |
If you cannot afford to file
More people qualify than apply. If this section applies to you it is the most useful thing on this page.
Vermont has a way to file without paying up front
This is a normal court procedure, not a favor you have to plead for.
- What it covers: Filing fees AND service costs — Vermont’s waiver expressly reaches service costs, not just the filing fee.
- What to ask for: Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs (Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis)
- How it works: Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs, also called an Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis, filed with the case. Official text: ‘Most initial court filings and requests for relief require a filing fee. The court has an Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs … that you can file if you feel you cannot afford the fees.’
What we could not find out
Open questions on this page
- No effective date is PRINTED anywhere on the Vermont Judiciary fee page, so effective_date is null rather than inferred.
- The statute text at legislature.vermont.gov we could not read: the section page returned only site chrome with no statutory body (verified across several chapter paths), so the fee figures rest on the Judiciary’s own official fee schedule, which cites 32 V.S.A. § 1431(b)(2) for each amount. Vermont’s own site also disclaims that ‘The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy.’
- Sheriff/constable service-of-process fee per respondent: not published on the judiciary fee schedule; no official figure located.
- COPE parent-education fee: not published by the Judiciary (program run by UVM Extension).
- Court-ordered family mediation fee: not published on the statewide fee schedule.
- No earmark/component breakdown of the divorce filing fee is published.
- Sources we could not read: legislature.vermont.gov — reachable only after manually completing the server’s incomplete TLS chain (the host serves its GlobalSign leaf without the intermediate); once loaded, the § 1431 section page rendered navigatio
We would rather show you a blank than a plausible number. Everything above is a real limit on what Vermont’s own agencies publish, not an omission on our part.
How we know this
Every figure on this page came from a statute, a state court system, or a clerk’s own published fee schedule — never a law firm’s blog, a legal-forms company, or a fee aggregator. Where a state publishes no date on its fee schedule, we say so rather than implying the number is current. Where nothing is published, we leave it blank.
Court fees change, and they change without announcement. Confirm with your clerk before you write the check.
What people actually report paying
Everything above is the filing fee, traced to the statute. It is also the smallest number in a divorce. Here is the other side of it — and a warning about how to read it.
We read hundreds of public accounts from people who have been through it. Three findings held up across nearly all of them:
- The total is bimodal, not an average. Self-filers cluster around $300–$500. Anyone with two lawyers and a real disagreement clusters around $20,000–$30,000. Almost nobody reports the middle, so “the average divorce costs X” describes almost no actual divorce.
- Cost is driven by the other person’s conduct, not by how complicated your assets are. People with millions who agreed to split evenly reported paying filing fees only. People with one house and one child reported $45,000 because the case got dragged out.
- Every large surprise is a third professional. The guardian ad litem, the custody evaluator, the forensic accountant, the QDRO preparer — all billed separately from both lawyers, and often introduced by the court before anyone had budgeted for one.
These are anecdotes, not prices. People post about a divorce cost when the number shocked them, so the high figures are heavily over-represented and the ordinary divorce is nearly invisible. Every figure on the full page is labeled with how many people reported it.
See what people report paying →Know someone in Vermont staring at this number?
A straight answer about money is more useful than most advice, and it costs nothing to pass along. Nothing here asks for their real name, and nobody finds out they looked.
Now the part the fees don’t cover
The forms, the deadlines, the residency rule, and what actually happens next.
Or find someone to help
Vermont attorneys, mediators, CDFAs and therapists, credentials checked against the state’s own records. Nobody paid to be there.