Who Pays Attorney Fees In A Divorce? (2024)

Divorce lawyers usually charge an hourly fee when they represent you in divorce proceedings.

You may be required to pay a retainer up front. This is a deposit to engage their services. As your lawyer performs work for you, you are charged for the time they take to complete these tasks.

The specific amount you will pay to end your marriage varies based on many factors including the complexity of your divorce as well as whether you and your spouse can agree on issues outside of court.

However, the median cost of a divorce in the U.S. is $7,000, and the average divorce costs between $15,000 and $20,000. Ending a marriage is generally an expensive proposition.

So, who pays attorneys fees in divorce? In most situations, each party is responsible for paying their own legal fees.

There are also court costs, such as filing fees. The person who actually submits the paperwork to the court and files for divorce usually covers this expense. If an individual cannot afford to pay to file for divorce, most courts make fee waivers available. You can submit a request to waive the court fees due to financial hardship with the court.

Court filing fees are separate from legal fees, though. While there may be legal aid services that charge on a reduced or sliding scale or that offer free legal advice, those who have a lawyer representing them during a divorce typically must pay a fee for that service.

In some cases, the answer to the question, who pays attorneys’ fees in divorce, is different. While each spouse usually pays their own costs, there are some situations where the court may order one spouse to pay legal expenses for the other.

You could ask the court to require your spouse to pay your attorney’s fees if you cannot afford them and there is a major earning disparity between you and your spouse. Or the court may require your spouse to pay your attorney’s fees if they behave improperly in a way that increases your divorce costs.

Needs-Based Fee Awards

If you are financially dependent on your spouse, the court will likely order your spouse to pay your attorney’s fees when your marriage ends. This is important to ensure that you and your spouse can both have legal counsel and that you aren’t left without adequate representation because you don’t have much money of your own.

You may be considered to be a dependent spouse who is entitled to attorney’s fees if there is a major earning disparity between you and your spouse and/or you do not have income of your own. This could occur in the following situations:

• If you were a stay-at-home spouse or a stay-at-home parent
• If you will be eligible for spousal support or alimony when the marriage has ended because you earn much less than your spouse does
• If you do not have access to your funds because of your spouse’s conduct, such as in situations where your spouse took money from your joint bank accounts

Conduct-Based Fee Awards

If your spouse has engaged in behavior that caused the cost of divorce to increase, the court may also order your spouse to pay your attorney’s fees. This occurs even if you do not demonstrate financial need because your spouse’s conduct caused you to incur the fees.

Examples of when the court may order fees based on your spouse’s misconduct include the following situations:

• If your spouse doesn’t appear in court
• If your spouse does not respond to requests for documents
• If your spouse doesn’t cooperate during divorce proceedings
• If your spouse makes meritless claims or pursues litigation solely for the purpose of making the divorce more difficult and expensive

If you need your spouse to pay your attorney’s fees, it is important to ask the court to declare you a dependent spouse and order your spouse to incur these costs.

You should petition the court as soon as possible in divorce proceedings so you can have adequate legal counsel throughout the process.

It is in the best interest of both parties to a divorce to try to keep attorney’s fees as low as possible. This is true even if your spouse is paying your costs. After all, the more your spouse spends on lawyers, the less money there is left over to distribute between you when your marriage has been dissolved.

There are many ways to try to reduce the cost of a divorce including the following:

• Pursuing an uncontested no-fault divorce. If you and your spouse can agree on the issues raised by the end of your marriage rather than asking the court to decide on custody, support or other matters, your divorce will be less expensive.
• Pursuing a collaborative divorce. This means you work together throughout the process, typically choosing attorneys who specialize in this type of marital dissolution.
• Working with a mediator. A mediator may be able to help you find compromise on issues you might otherwise have to ask a judge to resolve.

If you are concerned about who pays attorneys fees in divorce or about how you can afford to end your marriage, you should talk with the best divorce lawyers in your area about how you can get an affordable marital dissolution that protects your future.