What a Wyoming 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 stateWyoming
It costs $160.00 to file for divorce in Wyoming. 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. The widely repeated claim that Wyoming is among the cheapest states to file for divorce does not hold up against the current statute: Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i) sets the original civil filing fee at $160.00 — identical to North Dakota’s and 65% higher than South Dakota’s $97. Wyoming is also the only one of these three states where the parenting class is purely discretionary: § 20-2-201(f) says the court ‘may’ require it, so a Wyoming filer with children may face no class requirement at all.
The short version7 points · tap one to jump to it
- Where the money goes — Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i) sets 'an original filing fee of one hundred sixty dollars ($160.00), which shall be paid by the plaintiff' and expressly carves out $40 for court automation and $10 for indigent civil legal services.
- Does it change by county? — Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i) fixes the original civil filing fee at $160.00 statewide, and § 5-3-205 requires clerks to collect it in advance and remit it, with the $40 automation and $10 indigent-legal-services portions going to state accounts.
- What the filing fee does not cover — The filing fee is usually the smallest predictable number in a divorce.
- If you cannot afford to file — Wyoming publishes the procedure: form MISC 11, the Affidavit of Indigency and Request for Waiver of Fees and Costs, filed with the MISC 12 Order, and there is no fee to file the affidavit.
- What we could not find out
- How we know this — Where nothing is published, we leave it blank.
- What people actually report paying — Here is the other side of it — and a warning about how to read it.
In this subject 7
Where the money goes
The short version7 points · tap one to jump to it
- Where the money goes — Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i) sets 'an original filing fee of one hundred sixty dollars ($160.00), which shall be paid by the plaintiff' and expressly carves out $40 for court automation and $10 for indigent civil legal services.
- Does it change by county? — Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i) fixes the original civil filing fee at $160.00 statewide, and § 5-3-205 requires clerks to collect it in advance and remit it, with the $40 automation and $10 indigent-legal-services portions going to state accounts.
- What the filing fee does not cover — The filing fee is usually the smallest predictable number in a divorce.
- If you cannot afford to file — Wyoming publishes the procedure: form MISC 11, the Affidavit of Indigency and Request for Waiver of Fees and Costs, filed with the MISC 12 Order, and there is no fee to file the affidavit.
- What we could not find out
- How we know this — Where nothing is published, we leave it blank.
- What people actually report paying — Here is the other side of it — and a warning about how to read it.
In this subject 7
Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i) sets ‘an original filing fee of one hundred sixty dollars ($160.00), which shall be paid by the plaintiff’ and expressly carves out $40 for court automation and $10 for indigent civil legal services. The statute does NOT print a label or figure for the remaining $110 — that number is only arithmetic, so I have deliberately omitted it as a component rather than present a derived figure as a published one.
| Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Court automation fee (portion of the $160)Statute directs this portion to the judicial systems automation account. This is a carve-out of the $160, not an addition to it. Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i), remitted per § 5-3-205 | $40.00 |
| Indigent civil legal services fee (portion of the $160)Directed to the indigent civil legal services account. Related program authority at §§ 5-2-121 and 5-2-122. Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i), remitted per § 5-3-205 | $10.00 |
Does it change by county?
No — the required fee is $160.00 in every Wyoming county
Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(i) fixes the original civil filing fee at $160.00 statewide, and § 5-3-205 requires clerks to collect it in advance and remit it, with the $40 automation and $10 indigent-legal-services portions going to state accounts. Nothing in Title 5 authorizes a county to add a surcharge to the original filing fee, and § 5-3-206(a)(i) gives the clerk no discretion over it; the clerk’s charges for copies, certificates and transcripts are themselves fixed by statute, at § 5-3-206(a)(iv) through (viii). One thing can be added on top, and it is voluntary. By an Administrative Order of the Wyoming Supreme Court dated 15 June 2009, district courts “are allowed to charge an additional filing fee, not to exceed $25.00”, to be used for library materials, courtroom improvements and equipment — but “payment is voluntary. District Courts are not allowed to make the fee mandatory or to reject a filing for failure to pay the fee.” So you may be asked for up to $25.00 more at the counter, and you may decline it without your filing being refused. A caution: we have read no individual county clerk of district court’s own fee page, so the statement that the required fee does not vary rests on the statute and that order.
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 Wyoming 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 Wyoming kit.
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Docket fee on appeal from circuit court to district courtAllocated identically ($40 automation, $10 indigent civil legal services). Not a divorce cost unless an appeal occurs. Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a) | $100.00 |
| Taking depositions / commission for depositionsClerk’s statutory fee only; does not include the court reporter’s charge. Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(ii)-(iii) | $5.00 (taking depositions); $0.75 (commission for depositions) |
| Affidavits / acknowledgments Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a)(iv) | $0.50 per person |
| Copies of documentsRelevant for obtaining a copy of the decree. Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-206(a) | $1.00 first page; $0.50 each additional page |
| Mandatory parent education classNOT MANDATORY BY STATUTE. § 20-2-201(f): ‘At any time the court may require parents to attend appropriate parenting classes, including but not limited to, parenting classes to lessen the effects of divorce on children.’ This is permissive judicial discretion, not an automatic requirement in cases with minor children, and no fee is set by statute. Individual district courts may impose local requirements; we have not read the local rules of all nine judicial districts, so that remains unverified here. Wyo. Stat. § 20-2-201(f) | not published |
| Court-ordered mediationNo mandatory mediation requirement for divorces with minor children appears in Wyo. Stat. Title 20, ch. 2, and no fee is set there. | not published |
| Sheriff service of process, per respondentA statutory ceiling, not a price. § 18-3-608(a) sets “a single fee, to be determined and set by the board of county commissioners after a public hearing, paid in advance … not to exceed fifty dollars ($50.00) for the first three (3) attempts at service at a different time and date for each attempt. Thereafter a fee not to exceed ten dollars ($10.00) may be charged for each succeeding attempt.” What your county charges inside that ceiling is set by its commissioners, and we have read no county resolution, so ask the Sheriff’s civil division. The same subsection lets the court waive it on an adequate showing of indigency. Wyo. Stat. § 18-3-608(a) | up to $50.00 (first three attempts); up to $10.00 each attempt after |
| E-filing fee / credit-card surchargeTitle 5 contains no provision for e-filing fees, credit-card surcharges, or electronic payment convenience fees. Absence from the statute does not preclude an administratively imposed surcharge. The Judiciary’s own FAQ says only that filing fees are paid to the clerk on filing, that “methods of payment include cash and certified check”, and that “debit/credit card payments may be available and is variable by location”. It publishes no surcharge figure. | not published |
If you cannot afford to file
Wyoming publishes the procedure, and the request itself is free to file
The Wyoming Judicial Branch publishes both the forms and the instructions on its own self-help page. The instruction sheet is MISC 10, Instructions for Seeking Waiver of Fees, and it says it in terms: “If you cannot afford to pay the filing fees (and other court costs), you can ask the Court to waive the fees by filing an Affidavit of Indigency and Request for Waiver of Fees and Cost. There is no fee to file this Affidavit.”
Two forms are required, and both are on the Judiciary’s self-help forms page: MISC 11, Affidavit of Indigency and Request for Waiver of Fees and Costs and MISC 12, Order on Request for Waiver of Fees and Cost. You fill in the top of the Order, above the title, and leave the rest blank for the judge. All three documents carry “Last Form Revision: May 2025. Packet Date: May 2025.”
What you are swearing to, in the affidavit’s own words: “I respectfully request that the Court waive the filing fees and costs associated with service by a Wyoming Sheriff. I further authorize (give permission to) the Court to verify any or all of the information provided in this document in support of my request.” It runs to seven pages and asks for your housing, employment, public assistance, other income, monthly expenses, dependents, bank accounts, assets, debts, your capacity to borrow and any special circumstances. The public-assistance list on the form is TANF, EAEDC, poverty-related veteran’s benefits, SNAP, Medicaid, SSI and SSDI. It must be signed in front of a notary — MISC 10: “Do not sign this form until you are in front of a Notary” — then filed with the clerk of district court, served on the other party, and followed by a Certificate of Service.
Three things the Judiciary says plainly, which we are not going to soften. “People who can afford to pay the fees are expected to, and most people do not get the fees waived.” “There is no guarantee that you will get the waiver, and the Judge doesn’t have to explain the decision they make.” And where it is granted, “not all costs are covered—for example, fees for publication or other types of case-related expenses are typically not waived.”
The sheriff’s service fee has its own waiver, in the statute rather than the forms: Wyo. Stat. § 18-3-608(a) provides that “the court may waive the fees upon an adequate showing of indigency”, and then that “any fees waived may, pursuant to court order, be assessed and collected against any judgment rendered.” A waiver is not always forgiveness.
What is still not published. No income threshold, no percentage of the federal poverty level, and no statutory or rule citation appears anywhere on the three forms. The decision is the judge’s, made on the affidavit, against no standard that we could find published. Forms and instructions read on 3 October 2026.
What we could not find out
Open questions on this page
- No effective date is given. The compiled Title 5 statute text carries no printed effective-date or amendment note for the $160 figure. We have not inferred a date from the URL, the filename, or the compilation year. Treat the figure as current-as-compiled but undated.
- The widely repeated claim that Wyoming is one of the cheapest states to file in is contradicted by the statute itself: the fee is $160.00, not a low double-digit figure. We have not adjusted the number to fit the reputation. If a lower historical figure is in circulation, it predates the current text of § 5-3-206.
- Where the district court’s authority to waive the filing fee comes from is still unestablished. § 18-3-608(a) supplies it for the sheriff’s service fees in terms, and we found no equivalent in Title 1 or Title 5 (§§ 5-2-121 and 5-2-122 fund legal representation, not fee waivers). We have not read the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure, where it may sit. The Judiciary publishes the procedure either way, and the section above sets it out; what we cannot yet name is the provision behind it.
- No income standard for a waiver is published anywhere we have looked — not on MISC 10, MISC 11 or MISC 12, and not in Title 1 or Title 5. The judge decides on the affidavit. We are not going to derive a threshold from the poverty guidelines when Wyoming does not print one.
- Sheriff’s service-of-process fee: the statutory ceiling is read and quoted above from § 18-3-608(a). What each board of county commissioners has actually set inside that ceiling is not confirmed for any named county, because we have read no county resolution and no Sheriff’s own fee page.
- The $160.00 is now confirmed twice over: from the Legislature’s own Title 5 text, and from the Wyoming Judicial Branch’s own published FAQ, which states that “Wyoming Statutes Sections 5-3-206 and 2-2-401 sets the initial filing fee at $160*. Of this fee, $40 is for court automation and $10 is for indigent civil legal services.” What Wyoming still does not publish, as distinct from the statute, is a dated district court fee schedule: that FAQ carries no revision or effective date either, which is why the row above still says no date is printed.
- County-level confirmation is absent entirely; ‘varies: false’ is a statutory inference about authority to charge, not an audited comparison of county schedules.
- A note for anyone checking our work. The five Wyoming Judiciary addresses this page used to list here as unreachable were all on the old
courts.state.wy.usdomain, which now answers with a 301 redirect to www.wyocourts.gov. Followed through, the Judiciary’s site, its self-help forms page and its fee-waiver forms all return HTTP 200. The “fetch authorization failure” was our fault, not Wyoming’s, and it is what caused this page to tell readers for six weeks that Wyoming publishes no fee-waiver procedure. All Judiciary sources on this page were read on 3 October 2026.
We would rather show you a blank than a plausible number. What is left above is a real limit on what Wyoming’s own agencies publish — except where we say otherwise, as with the redirect we failed to follow.
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 Wyoming 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
Wyoming attorneys, mediators, CDFAs and therapists, credentials checked against the state’s own records. Nobody paid to be there.
The rest of what we have written about Wyoming. Every figure is quoted from Wyoming’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Common questions about filing costs in Wyoming
Short answers to what people ask most about this number. Everything here is drawn from the same sources as the figures above.
How much does it cost to file for divorce in Wyoming?
$160 to open the case. What the court actually publishes is $160.00. Every figure on this page is traced to Wyoming’s own statute or its courts’ published fee schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Is the divorce filing fee the same in every Wyoming county?
Yes for the required fee. Wyoming sets it statewide, so the figure is the same whichever county you file in: $160. A district court may additionally ask for a voluntary fee of up to $25.00 for its library and courtroom, which by Supreme Court administrative order it cannot make mandatory and cannot reject your filing over.
Is the filing fee the whole cost of a divorce in Wyoming?
No, and it is the small number. The filing fee is what it costs to open the case. Serving the papers, any required parenting class, copies and certifications, an attorney if you use one, and the cost of running two households instead of one are all separate — and together they are many times larger. The sections above set out what this figure does and does not buy.
What if I cannot afford the filing fee in Wyoming?
You file an Affidavit of Indigency and Request for Waiver of Fees and Costs, form MISC 11, together with an Order on Request for Waiver of Fees, form MISC 12 — both published by the Wyoming Judicial Branch, and there is no fee to file the affidavit. It is sworn in front of a notary, filed with the clerk of district court and served on the other party. A judge decides it on the affidavit; the Judiciary says most people do not get the fees waived and the judge does not have to explain a denial. The section above sets out the whole procedure.
How current is this Wyoming figure, and where does it come from?
It is quoted from the court’s own published schedule or the statute that sets it, with the date it was last checked shown on the page. Where a figure could not be confirmed from an official source, this site says so rather than estimating — and where a number could only be reached by arithmetic rather than read off a published schedule, it is left out rather than presented as published. That rule is why some rows here say “not published” instead of carrying a tidy figure, and it is the whole basis on which these pages can be reproduced. The full fifty-state comparison is at thecusp.app/divorce-costs/, free to reproduce under the license published there.
Choosing an agent for a divorce sale is a different problem from choosing one for an ordinary sale: who the agent is allowed to talk to, who has to sign, what happens when one of you will not, and the three separate conflicts of interest that come up when one spouse found the agent first. How to choose a real estate agent for a divorce sale sets out what to ask, and how to check a credential yourself — no divorce credential is official with the National Association of Realtors.
The Cusp receives a referral fee from agents it vets and trains to handle divorce clients.