How much does a divorce cost in Maryland?
Key Takeaways
- The cost of a divorce in Maryland can range from about $5,500 to almost $25,000 and more.
- Fees associated with filing, service of process, temporary support, discovery, mediation, trial and working with an attorney all contribute to the cost of divorce.
- Uncontested divorce in Maryland is significantly cheaper due to less attorney and court time.
Currently, divorce in Maryland can cost anywhere from about $5,500 to almost $25,000 and above. Below is a breakdown of what goes into these sums. Keep in mind, most of these rates are averages and estimates that are current as of the publication of this article.
Costs of divorce in Maryland
Although attorney fees are often the most significant charge in a divorce, there are many other fees to be aware of. Below are the main costs of divorce in Maryland.
Attorney fees
The average hourly rate for a Maryland attorney is currently $260 to $325. Note that some lawyers may charge a flat fee for their services. With some legwork and negotiation, you may be able to find an attorney who charges less than the state average.
Filing fees
When someone files a complaint for absolute divorce in Maryland, they owe a filing fee. The exact amount varies by county, but currently it’s typically around $200. Some people may qualify to waive this fee.
Service fees
You must notify your spouse about your divorce filing by serving them with your divorce complaint and any other paperwork that goes with it. You can’t serve the papers yourself. You must ask an adult who isn’t part of your case or hire a professional process server or the sheriff. Currently, this may cost you about $40 to $100, depending on your location.
Temporary orders of support
Since divorce can take months (or longer) to finalize, courts sometimes issue pendente lite orders for support during the process. This may mean you owe (or receive) child support or alimony while the divorce is pending. Depending on your financial resources and family’s needs, your monthly obligation under a temporary support order could be hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Maryland divorce courts must make determinations about the following:
- How to split marital property
- How to allocate custody rights
- The amount of each spouse’s child or spousal support obligations
To reach a fair decision in your case, you may need to present the court with convincing evidence, such as:
- Healthcare records
- Financial statements
- Witness testimony
- Property records
- Business documents
- Education records
- Employment records
Collecting this evidence can be costly in some divorce cases. At the lower end of the cost spectrum, some government agencies, financial organizations and healthcare institutions charge a few dollars for medical, financial, property or business reports. At the higher end of the spectrum, expert witnesses—such as child psychologists or forensic accountants—often charge hundreds of dollars per hour. You need to pay for both their time spent preparing for court and their time on the stand.
Additionally, not all witnesses show up to court willingly. If you need to serve someone with a subpoena, currently, it may cost between $40 and $100 for each witness.
Mediation
During this process, the spouses work with a neutral third party mediator to help them reach an agreement on some or all of the issues of their divorce. The couple—often with the help of an attorney—then writes a divorce settlement agreement. If this document addresses all divorce matters, and the agreement terms are fair and reasonable, the family court may make it part of the divorce decree and finalize the divorce without a lengthy trial.
Though you need to pay the mediator and any lawyer you work with during this time, the overall fee is typically much less than going to court.
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Trial
The cost of a divorce trial often depends on the complexity of your divorce. The more issues you have to settle and the more complicated those issues are, the longer it may take, and the more you may have to spend on attorney fees and discovery costs. Also, you might lose wages when you attend a divorce trial and have significant expenses to travel to and from the court.
What is the cheapest way to get a divorce in Maryland?
Every divorce is different, which means that every divorce comes with a different price tag. Your Maryland divorce cost could be more or less than the averages quoted above, depending on the following factors:
- The type of divorce
- Whether you share children with your spouse
- Whether one party seeks spousal support
- Your shared property
Contested divorce vs uncontested divorce
If you and your spouse can agree about all the relevant issues in your divorce, you have what’s called an uncontested divorce. You can submit a signed settlement agreement and avoid going to trial.
However, if you and your spouse disagree about any terms of the divorce, you have a contested divorce. In this instance, you’ll need to spend time in discovery, working with a lawyer and going to trial to present your case and have a judge decide those terms of the divorce.
Because of the time a contested divorce often takes, it typically costs significantly more than an uncontested divorce.
Minor children
A divorce that involves minor children tends to cost more because the divorce court must determine child support obligations and custody rights. To do this, you’ll likely need to spend money to hire an attorney and gather evidence and witness statements, and then go to trial. The time all of this takes often translates into thousands more dollars than couples without children spend on divorce proceedings.
Spousal support
Spousal support, or alimony, isn’t automatically granted in every Maryland divorce case, but spouses can request it. Courts often grant support from one spouse to another after concluding that the requesting spouse has a need. This support could cost the other spouse hundreds or thousands of dollars a month and be temporary or last for a lifetime.
Property division
Identifying marital property and separate property during a divorce can get tricky if you and your spouse co-own assets with third parties or have commingled non-marital and marital assets. To iron out what is and isn’t subject to distribution, you might have to spend more time in court or hire a forensic accountant, who could cost you several hundred dollars per hour.
There’s also the potential financial loss when the court hands down its decision. You could lose a house worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or thousands of dollars in investments. A divorce decree may also require you to pay your spouse’s debts.
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