There are many different factors that determine the price when you are considering how much a divorce costs.  The biggest factor that will effect this is the price of your lawyer.  With a divorce, there are several things to consider, the first is that during a typical divorce there will be a split of the marital assets.  This will generally result in a cost of 50% of the marital assets, which includes property as well as money.  This is typically the biggest cost in a divorce for someone. 

Other costs also include the legal fees, court costs, and other fees associated.  The legal fees are the next biggest expense involved in a divorce.  This is because of the cost of a lawyer on a per hour basis.  For example, if you select a lawyer that costs $200 per hour, and they perform 10 hours of work you are looking at a bill for $2,000.  If however, you select a lawyer that charges $300 per hour, you are looking at a $3,000 bill for the same 10 hours.  You can see how selecting a lawyer with a lower hourly fee can save a lot of money. 

A general rule of thumb is that a divorce that involves children or a contested divorce will be much more expensive.  These situations are going to create a higher cost because of the fact that more court dates, as well as negotiations are necessary when a divorce has children or is contested.  While there are ways to save money, the typical costs of a divorce that is contested or even involving children can be as much as 20 times higher than a divorce that does not have children or is uncontested.

So with all of the variables that exist in a divorce you can see how it is very difficult to give an exact description of how much a divorce costs.  However, a good rule of thumb is the cheapest divorce can be as low as $500, while the high side of a divorce can be as much as $50,000.  The wide range varies because of the legal fees, court costs, filing fees, research fees, and even mediation fees.  Another expense that can increase the cost of your divorce is if your state and county require you to attend a form of counseling or parenting classes. 

With the wide range of filing fees that are charged in a divorce this can be another major expense.  Some counties charge filing fees that are as low as $200, other counties charge filing fees of as much as $800.  This is a major difference that is often based upon the cost of living in an area.  If you live in an area that is typically much cheaper, then the filing fees will be much cheaper.  Filing fees are also not something that is refundable, and this must be paid when the divorce paperwork is initially filed. 

One of the biggest ways you can save money is by trying to negotiate with your spouse to agree on the terms of your divorce.  If this is possible then you can have a complete divorce for less than $1,000.  If you require the use of a mediator in order to agree to the terms of a divorce, you are looking at a cost of closer to $3,000.  If you require court hearings in order to divide the assets or resolve custody matters then you can easily look at a minimum of $5,000 with overall fees rising as high as $50,000. 

You can see from the different prices how everything you can do to lower the price is a very large help.  If your spouse is determined to avoid the divorce process then your divorce will be much more expensive, because with numerous motions filed, it is going to add to the court costs, as well as fees that your lawyer is charging.  Avoid filing frivolous motions as much as possible to avoid unnecessary increases in the expense of your divorce. 

If you are reckless in your decisions, and call your lawyer every day for a status report, as well as demand numerous motions to be filed then you are needlessly increasing the amount that your divorce will cost.  It is reasonable to expect a divorce for less than $1,000 if you are considering an uncontested divorce.  It is also possible to have a divorce for less than $1,000 if you are able to represent yourself.  With some research and planning, you can save a lot of money and manage the costs of your divorce quite well. 
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