Quick Overview

Is there such a thing as a cheap Arizona divorce?

Well, there is really only one cost in a divorce that is constant and required. That cost is the court filing fee. However, a typical divorce will end up costing so much more.

In this article I will cover the typical costs of an Arizona divorce, where those costs come from, and what you can do to keep costs down.

Filing and service fees

When you file for divorce in Arizona, you will be required to pay a filing fee. All divorces in Arizona are filed in superior court. The superior courts in Arizona are divided up by county.

So, you will typically file for divorce in the county where you and your spouse reside. To find out how much your filing fee will cost, you can view your applicable superior court’s website and search for the fees for a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.

I have a free online course on how to file for divorce. In a section in that course I have all of the links to each superior court’s filing fee schedule. Basically, the filing fee is going to cost around $300-365 depending on which county you live and file in. That is for the petitioner (the person filing for divorce). The respondent (the other spouse) will also have to file a response fee, which is typically $100 or so less.

So in total, you will at a minimum spend around $500-600 or so on court filing fees. It is possible to get those fees deferred until later on or possibly even waived if you have low enough income and assets. It is easier to get a deferral than a waiver.

In addition to the court filing fees, you will likely have to pay a private process server a fee to have your spouse served with the divorce papers after you file. This has to be done either through the sheriff or a private process server. The cost typically runs around $65-100 depending on how many attempts are needed.

You cannot serve your spouse yourself. However, your spouse can accept service from you by filing an Acceptance of Service that acknowledges receipt of the specific, initial divorce papers. This could save the $65-100 or so in service fees.

Lawyer fees

This is by far the big one. Hiring a lawyer is expensive, and divorce cases are no different. Most resources indicate that the average cost of a divorce is $15,000 or so per person. I would generally agree having litigated hundreds of cases myself. There’s no way around it.

Think about it. Most divorce lawyers are going to charge $200 (if they’re brand new) to $450 per hour. For my ballpark figure I’ll average it out at $300 per house, which is what I used to charge (I’ve since gone mostly to flat fees and $250/hour for litigation). Let’s say you go to trial and have a lawyer throughout all of your case. The trial itself will likely be 3-6 hours. That’s about $1,800 right there. Plus, for ever hour of trial the attorney should at least spend 1 hour fo prep, typically two. So, that would be about $5,400 just for trial.

And that’s just for the attorney time. There will often be another paralegal and/or associate attorney helping with the prep work.

If you went to trial, then you almost certainly had at least two other court appearances. You’ll have the cost of the initial filing, discovery requests and responses, probably multiple “hiccups” along the way that have to be resolved or answered, and at least a few settlement attempts.

Most divorce cases last 6-12 months. $15,000 divided by 300 hours is 50 hours. It’s not hard to imagine a lawyer and his firm working 50 hours on your behalf over a 6-12 month time frame. In many cases, it will likely double that amount, especially if you end up going to trial.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hire a lawyer. A lawyer can be very beneficial. Here are some tips and ways you can reduce your lawyer fees if you do hire a lawyer:

• Do not call for every little thing. You are being billed by the hour. Every time you call or need help, it will cost you. If it’s not a time sensitive matter, it can save you a lot of money in the long run to “save up” your questions and be more efficient with the attorney time you request.
• Educate yourself so your attorney doesn’t have to. Your attorney will still probably need to explain some things, but the more you know and can learn on your own, the better you’ll be able to follow along and the less time your attorney will need to get you up to speed on a particular issue or strategy.
  • This is why I offer my online self-help courses for people whether they have a lawyer or not. It will be beneficial for anyone going through a divorce.
• Review your monthly bills. Lawyers will keep track of their time and your bill will be an itemized list of time spent on your case. Lawyers can make mistakes too and sometime will bill you by accident. Review your bill and don’t be afraid to point out an error on your bill.
• Think big picture and try to settle as much as possible. Fighting take time and time is money because you’re being billed by the hour. Think about what you’re fighting over and how much it will cost in time/money/dollars to get what you want. Except for the kids, a divorce is really just a business-esque process. Don’t let emotions get in the way and cause you to spend way more than you need to.

An consultation with a lawyer will typically cost $200-400 for an hour. Some lawyers will offer a free consult, but sometimes you get what you pay for. I touch on that in this article on free divorce help.

Expert witness fees

In addition to lawyer fees, you may have to hire an expert witness or two to help prove a particular claim. This can certainly be beneficial depending on the claim.

For instance, if you have a separate property claim, it is up to you prove what is your separate property.

Learn more about Separate vs. Community Property.

In order to do so, you might need to hire an expert witness, such as a CPA, or other financial expert to trace funds, deeds, or otherwise show why Property X is your property from when you got married. If the amount you’re shooting for is high enough, then it can certainly be a worthwhile investment to spend thousands of dollars on an expert witness to recoup tens of thousands (or maybe more).

If you are going to hire an expert witness, then chances are you’re already hiring a lawyer and there’s really not getting around the fact that it’s going to cost a lot of money. However, just like with attorney fees, you can save some money on expert fees by reviewing bills, good (but not excessive) communication, and keeping an eye on the big picture so the expenditure of time/money is (likely) going to pay off.

In some cases, people will want to do a “custody” evaluation. This typically costs $5,000 to $10,000 or more (depending on the case). It would be smart to consider beforehand the likely outcomes on parenting time and/or legal decision-making before committing to spending the money on an expensive evaluation. Depending on the concerns you have, even a “good” result from the evaluation may not net you the result you were hoping for.

Mediation costs

Mediation is an excellent idea if you think you and your spouse have a chance of settlement. It isn’t for everyone, but it certainly can be a cheaper option. Going back to the lawyer fees, every thing you have to fight over will take more time and thus cost more money. So, the more you can settle via mediation, the less you’ll have to fight about and less in future lawyer fees (assuming you can’t settle everything and have to hire lawyers).

That being said, mediation isn’t cheap. Most mediators are lawyers, or retired judges and so they are providing the service as an alternative to their lawyer days, but still want to get paid a comparable rate. So, most mediators will still charge in the $200-400 per hour range. This will typically be split between you and your spouse, resulting in about half the cost of a lawyer (for the time spent).

Mediation will typically be conducted over a day, or maybe two. So you can expect a mediation to cost around $1,500 up to $6,000 depending on how much time you’re buying.

Here are some things to know before getting into mediation and how to save yourself some time/money.

• A mediator cannot provide you with legal advice. So, it will be up to you to understand your legal rights and responsibilities beforehand. This can be done by meeting with an attorney for a consult beforehand. If you have a consult, you can get our free consult preparation checklist to get the most of your consult.
• Additionally, our online courses are designed to help people learn the fundamentals of divorce which will also help prepare people for mediation.
• Just like an attorney, the more time you need, the more expensive it will be. If you go in blind, then either your are going to make a bad deal, or you are going to feel so uneasy that you can’t agree on anything. Either way will be costing you money. So, it’s best to be well educated before diving into mediation so you can make the most of it.
• Don’t be afraid to take the terms to a lawyer for a consult before sealing the deal. If you’re not 100% sure of the settlement discussed at mediation, take the time to discuss it with a lawyer first so you can feel confident. Again, your consult can only be as good as the info you provide, so be sure to get our checklist and gather the info suggested for your consult.

Other fees and costs

In addition to mediation, there can be a few other possible fees and costs along the way.

For example, sometime drug abuse is an issue that comes up in divorce cases. When this happens the court can order one or both spouses to go drug test, which can be a one-time thing or sometimes a recurring requirement. A drug test will cost around $50 or so depending on how many and which types of substances you have to test for.

In many cases with children, the court will require the parents to do a parenting conference. In Maricopa County, this will cost around $300 per parent. Additionally, if there are more serious concerns, the court can appoint a Court-appointed Advisor who has more of an investigative role, and typically costs around $500 per parent.

Conclusion

A divorce can cost as little as $500-600, if the only expense incurred was the filing fee (for both parties). When you see ads for divorces for $199, or $999, or something like that, this is typically for a document preparation service by a paralegal or legal document preparer. Much like a mediator, these people and services will not give you legal advice and won’t really educate you on your legal rights and responsibilities.

A consult with a lawyer can be anywhere from free to several hundred dollars. Hiring a lawyer will cost thousands, and most likely over $10,000.

A mediator will cost the same as a single lawyer, but you should be using much less of their time for mediation sessions. A mediator will typically cost $1,500 to $6,000.

There can be other fees and costs that pop up depending on the circumstances of the case. The important things you can do to have a cheap Arizona divorce are:

• Don’t unnecessarily fight by keeping your eye on the big picture
• Be business-like in your decisions (don’t spend good money on bad)
• Keeping communications efficient
• Reviewing bills
• Being educated on your rights and responsibilities ahead of time
• Reducing conflict and the need for more court involvement.