_(Light_Gray_Background).webp)
Quick Answer
An uncontested divorce in New York (both spouses agree on everything) typically costs between $335 and $2,500+, depending on how much help you use:
- File it yourself: $335 court filing fee only
- Use a document preparation service: a few hundred dollars, plus the $335 court fee
- Hire an attorney: about $2,500 per spouse, plus the $335 court fee
A contested divorce (spouses disagree on one or more issues) costs far more — commonly $25,000+ per spouse in attorney fees, because it requires court hearings and negotiation instead of just paperwork.
Why Uncontested Divorces Cost So Much Less
The cost of any divorce comes down to one thing: how much time someone has to spend on it. The more time a case takes, the more it costs — whether you're paying an attorney by the hour or spending your own evenings on paperwork.
- In a contested divorce, spouses typically disagree on at least one of the following issues: child support, custody, parenting time (visitation), distribution of marital property and marital debts and the payment of spousal support. A judge has to resolve those disagreements, which means court hearings, financial disclosures, negotiation between lawyers, and sometimes a trial. All of that takes months of attorney time.
- In an uncontested divorce, spouses have already agreed on everything. There's nothing for a judge to decide — the case is mostly paperwork: filling out the right forms correctly and filing them with the court.
That difference in workload is why uncontested divorces cost a fraction of contested ones.
What a Contested Divorce Costs
According to research conducted by Clio, the average hourly rate for a New York family law attorney in 2026 is $429
| Cost Factor | Amount |
|---|---|
| Average NY family law attorney rate for contested divorce (2026) | $429/hour |
| Typical hours per spouse | 60 hours |
| Fee per spouse | $25,740 |
| Combined fee, both spouses | $51,480 |
A national 2019 survey by Nolo found similar patterns: contested divorces that went to trial averaged an attorney fee around $20,400 per spouse, and cases with multiple disputes averaged an attorney fee about $23,300 per spouse.
What an Uncontested Divorce Costs (With an Attorney)
| Cost Factor | Amount |
|---|---|
| Average NY uncontested-divorce attorney rate (2026) | $250/hour |
| Typical hours (8 hrs paperwork + 2 hrs filing) | 10 hours |
| Fee, one attorney | $2,500 |
| Fee if both spouses share one attorney | $2,500 total |
| Fee if each spouse hires their own attorney | $5,000 combined |
These statistics show that the cost for attorney fees in an uncontested divorce are on average approximatley 90% less than the cost for attorney fees in a contested divorce — because there's no litigation, just paperwork.
New York State Court Filing Fees (Court Costs)
Every divorce filed in the state of New York, contested or uncontested, requires these mandatory fees to be paid directly to the court.
| Fee Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| Index Number Fee: Paid to the court when your divorce is officially started. | $210 |
| Note of Issue/RJI fee: Paid to the court when the RJI (Request for Judicial Intervention) and Note of Issue are filed to calendar the case and assign a judge. | $125 |
| Total Court Fees | $335 |
If you have a financial hardship and cannot afford to pay the court fees you can file an Application to Proceed as a Poor Person to request the court to waive them.
Uncontested Diovrce Costs (Your Options, Cheapest to Most Expensive)
If you and your spouse can reach an agreement on all issue involved in your divorce, you can file an uncontested divorce. In an uncontested divorce, you have several options for preparing your divorce documents and filing them with the court. Here's the cost of each option:
Note: Pro-Se means representing yourself in court, without a lawyer.
| Method to Prepare Documents and File With the Court | Typical Cost |
|---|---|
| Do everything yourself (DIY / Pro-Se) | $335 (court fee only) |
| Document preparation and filing services | A few hundred dollars + $335 court fee |
| Attorney, shared by both spouses | $2,500 + $335 court fee |
| Attorney, one per spouse | $5,000 combined + $335 court fee |
| Mediation (if required to reach agreement on all issues) | $5,000–$9,000 |
The next section discusses in detail the benefits and drawbacks/risks of the DIY option and explains why most people would not use the DIY option for their uncontested divorce even though it is the cheapest option.
Option 1: Do Everything Yourself (DIY) Do-It-Yourself Divorce
This is the cheapest path: no attorney fees, just the $335 court fee. It works best when your situation is simple — no minor children, no property or debts to divide, no spousal support.
Benefits of DIY
- Lowest possible cost — just the $335 court fee
- Full control — you handle everything yourself, on your own schedule
- Suitable for very simple cases — if there's truly nothing to divide and no children involved, and you are a very detailed person who is comfortable filling out legal documents, the paperwork and filing process may be manageable for you to handle
Risks of DIY
- The forms are more complex than they look. New York's official divorce forms are free, but not simple. One form alone — the Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law — is 13 pages, with detailed checkboxes and legal language that's easy to fill out incorrectly.
- Doucments with any mistakes are rejected by the court. The court rejects documents and says they are "defective" — often without a clear explanation of what is wrong or how to fix it.
- Rejected documents cost you time, delay your divorce and are very frustrating. Each rejection requires refiling paperwork, which can add weeks and sometimes months to your divorce.
- You're on your own if you don't understand something. There's no one to turn to for help if something is not clear and you have questions about preparing any of the divorce forms, the very rigorous filing process, or dealing with rejected "defective" documents.
- You still have to file your documents. If you have the most simple divorce (no children, no marital property or marital debts to distribute and neither spouse wants spousal support) you can use the court's DIY online website to fill out your divorce forms online. If your divorce is not just a basic divorce you can download and print out forms from the court's website and fill them out yourself (this approach has many drawbacks which have already been pointed out). However, whether you prepare your forms with the court's DIY online software or download, print out and manually fill out the court's free divorce forms, you are still responsible for filing the forms with the court and complying with any local rules the court may have for how the documents are to be prepared or filed.
What You Need to Know:
For most people, the risks of a DIY uncontested divorce outweigh the benefit of its lower cost, even when filing an uncontested divorce.Once most people understand that a DIY uncontested divorce means that have to fill out complex legal forms, risking court rejection for any mistakes that can delay their divorce by weeks or months, and they have to handle the filing process and comply with any local court requirements, and they won't have anyone to turn to for help if something goes wrong, they decide that saving the cost of professional assistance simply is not worth those risks—even though paying only the $335 in mandatory court fees makes DIY divorce the cheapest way to file an uncontested divorce.
Option 2: Use a Low-Cost Document Preparation Service
Document preparation services offer a practical middle ground between handling a divorce entirely on your own and paying an attorney thousands of dollars to manage the case from start to finish. Instead of trying to figure out complicated divorce forms and filing requirements yourself, you provide the necessary information and the service prepares the documents for you, usually for a flat fee of only a few hundred dollars. Many services can also file the divorce papers with the court and help make sure the paperwork is completed correctly and accurately.
These services do not provide legal advice or represent you in court, but for an uncontested divorce they eliminate many of the risks and frustrations of preparing and filing the divorce papers yourself, including mistakes that can result in court rejection and delays.
| DIY Risk | How a Document Preparation Service Solves It |
|---|---|
| Divorce forms are complex and easy to fill out wrong | The information you provide about your divorce is used to correctly and accurately complete all your divorce paperwork by a service that (if you use a reputable provider) has a lot of knowledge, skill and experience preparing divorce documents |
| The Court may reject a "defective" filing and the reason why or how to fix them may not be clear to you | Documents are checked for completeness and accuracy before they're submitted, and the service understands how to read court rejection notices |
| Rejections cost you weeks of delay | Correctly prepared documents result in few or no rejections and a faster path to your Judgment of Divorce |
| No one to ask when you don't know something | Support is available to answer questions about the process |
| You have to file the paperwork yourself with the court | Some services will file the documents for you. The slow old fashioned way is to bring or mail documents and payment for the court fees to the court. The fast modern way to file a divorce is to e-file (electronically) submit the documents and payment of court fees to the court. |
Note: Generally speaking, there are two types of document preparation providers and nowadays sometimes their services overlap:
- Traditional paralegal services: Many still use slow, paper-based processes — mailed questionnaires and workbooks, in-person office visits, and documents that goes back and forth by mail that can add days or weeks to the process to prepare and file your divorce, and handle any court rejections of "defective" documents.
- Online divorce services: Use a digital questionnaire instead for the client to enter their divorce information, which is easier and faster and doesn't require an office visit to provide their informaion. Service quality and pricing transparency vary tremendously between providers.
What You Need to Know:
Quality, scope of service and pricing transparancy vary a lot between providers. That's why it is very important before choosing a document preparation provider to find out the answers to the questions in the following checklist:
| Question to Ask | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Is the service provided by people who are very experienced with preparing uncontested divorce documents and filing them in your local county? | Some do not provide any infomation about who actually runs the company, and they may have no significant knowledge or experience. There's a very high likelihood your documents will be rejected by the court |
| Is court filing included in the price? | Some charge this separately, as a surprise add-on |
| Is there a real phone number and address? | Many online divorce service websites do not provide a phone number or address in the United States for the company and there is no way to call them for support. |
| Are all required forms and a marital settlement agreement included in their advertised price? | Some do not provide court-specific or local forms and leave it to you to figure out how to obtain and fill them out yourself. And some do not include a marital settlement agreement and charge extra to prepare it. |
| Is there a hidden monthly subscription? | Some online divorce services have low advertised prices but they hide that they auto-enroll you in ongoing fees |
| Are all court fees clearly disclosed? | Many providers of document preparation services don't clearly inform you that the $335 court fee is separate from their service fee. |
Option 3: Hire an Attorney
Even for a fully uncontested divorce, some people prefer an attorney to represent them and handle the entire process. You can also use an attorney for just part of the process — known as unbundled legal services — for less than the cost for to represent you and handle the process.
Here's an example of your cost to file an uncontesed divorce in new york where you hire an attorney to only prepare your divorce papers and provide you with filing instructions for you file your divorce with the court:
| Cost Component | Detail |
|---|---|
| Number of Hours to draft all documents | 8 hours |
| Attorney Legal Fee (Per Hour) | $250/hour |
| Total Attorney Legal Fee | $2,000 |
| Court filing fee (still owed separately) | $335 |
With unbundled legal services, your total attorney fee is $2,000 to prepare your divorce papers and filing instructions, and you file the divorce yourself. That is $500 less than the $2,500 attorney fee for full-service representation discussed earlier, which includes having the attorney prepare the documents, represent you, and file the divorce with the court.
- Full-service attorney:
$2,500 - Unbundled legal services
(doc prep only):
$2,000 - You save: $500
Option 4: Mediation (If You and Your Spouse Are Not Yet Agreed on All Issues)
If you and your spouse don't agree on all issues involved in your divorce a mediator can help you get there — for far less than a contested divorce would cost with traditonal attorney-led divorce. A neutral third party facilitates the conversations and negotiations between you and your spouse, with the mutual goal of all parties to reach agreement on all issues. The mediated marital settlement agreement can be binding or non-binding. In New York, mediation typically runs $5,000–$9,000 (source: SnapDivorce). Once you've reached agreement on all issues and signed the mediated marital settlement agreement, you can then file an uncontested divorce.
A Simpler, More Affordable Path: LetsGetDivorced.com
If you want help preparing and filing your uncontested New York divorce paperwork — to avoid the mistakes that cause court rejections and delays — without paying expensive attorney legal fees, that's exactly why thousands of people choose LetsGetDivorced.com for full-service, uncontested New York divorce document preparation and court filing.
LetsGetDivorced.com is a low-cost New York-based, flat-fee uncontested divorce document preparation service that offers fast e-filing, founded in 2013 by licensed New York divorce attorney Gerald D. Bruckner, Esq. who has 33 years of experience.
New York Uncontested Divorce
Paralegal Case Manager Document Preparation and Court Filing Flat-Fee Pricing: (No Children) $279 + court feesWhen you file for divorce in New York, the court charges mandatory filing fees totaling $335. These fees are paid directly to the court. They are not included in our service package fee and will be an additional expense for the customer.
When you file for divorce in New York, the court charges mandatory filing fees totaling $335. These fees are paid directly to the court. They are not included in our service package fee and will be an additional expense for the customer.
|
N.Y.S. Court Fees:
The court charges $335 in mandatory court fees that are paid directly to the court. The court fees and are not included in our service fees. |
Our services have been used to file over 10,000 uncontested divorces across every county in New York State. We know the local court rules in detail which helps you avoid paperwork rejections and delays that trip up many DIY filers.
With our service, every case is assigned a dedicated paralegal case manager who guides you through the entire divorce process and handles preparing and filing your documents. Using the information you provide in our easy-to-use online portal, they prepare your documents, review them for completeness and accuracy, e-file them with the court, monitor your case and provide you with status updates, and when your divorce is granted they send you a copy of the signed Judgment of Divorce.
There is no need for office visits, or mailing paperwork back and forth with the US Postal Service — documents are sent back and forth by email. In New York state, as long as your divorce remains uncontested, your case can be granted without you needing to ever appear in court. The judge reviews the divorce documents and can grant a divorce without you or your spouse needing to attend a hearing, in a process known as the divorce being decided "On the Papers."
Most cases are complete in 1–3 months, depending on the court's backlog.
FAQs
How much does an uncontested divorce cost in New York?
Typically $335 (court fee only, if you file it yourself) up to about $2,500+ if you hire an attorney. Document preparation services fall in between, usually a few hundred dollars plus the $335 court fee.
What's the cheapest way to get divorced in New York?
The absolute cheapest way to get divorced in New York is to file an uncontested divorce yourself (a DIY Pro-Se uncontested divorce). You prepare the documents and you file them with the court. Your only required cost is the $335 court fee, which can be waived in cases of financial hardship. However, there are several risks and drawbacks to filing a DIY divorce (e.g, risk of documents being rejected if they have any mistakes which result in delays to your case, and no one to turn to for help if you need it), so although it is the cheapest way to file for divorce it is not necessarily the best way to file for divorce even if you want to spend as little as possible to file for your divorce.
What is an uncontested divorce and why would you want one?
An uncontested divorce is when both spouses agree on all key issues. Filing an uncontested divorce is the cheapest and best way to get a divorce. Among their many benefits, uncontested divorces can be filed without an attorney, cost much less than contested divorces, and are processed much quicker by the court than contested divorces.
Do I need an attorney for an uncontested divorce?
No. New York doesn't require one. Many people use a document preparation service or file the paperwork themselves instead.
Is the $335 court fee normally included in the fee to prepare documents and file them for an uncontested divorce?
No. Whether an attorney charges you thousands of dollars for full representation including document preparation and court filing, or you use a low-cost document preparation service, the court fee is not included in the price for those services. It is a separate fee that must be paid to the court, regardless of who prepares your paperwork, unless it is waived by the court because you can't afford to pay it.
Do I have to appear in court before a judge for an uncontested divorce?
Normally no. Most uncontested cases in New York are decided "On the Papers" — the judge reviews the paperwork and grants the divorce if the documents are all completed correctly and the legal requirements have been satisfied — without either spouse having to appear before the judge.
How much does LetsGetDivorced.com charge for document preparation and filing for an uncontested divorce in New York State?
Flat-Fee Pricing:
(No Children)
$279 + court fees
When you file for divorce in New York, the court charges mandatory filing fees totaling $335. These fees are paid directly to the court. They are not included in our service package fee and will be an additional expense for the customer.
When you file for divorce in New York, the court charges mandatory filing fees totaling $335. These fees are paid directly to the court. They are not included in our service package fee and will be an additional expense for the customer.
|
N.Y.S. Court Fees:
The court charges $335 in mandatory court fees that are paid directly to the court. The court fees and are not included in our service fees. |