By Michael T. Mackhanlall, Mack Law P.A. · Updated July 12, 2026
The most common first question in family law, answered without the runaround: a Florida divorce costs anywhere from about $400 in court fees for a do-it-yourself simplified case to five figures for a contested case with experts. The honest variable isn't the courthouse — it's conflict. Here is where the money actually goes, and how to keep it.
The fixed costs: what the court charges
In Orange County, filing a petition for dissolution of marriage costs $408, plus $10 to issue a summons; add roughly $40 or more to have the sheriff or a process server deliver it. Divorcing parents of minor children also complete a short court-approved parenting course (§ 61.21, Florida Statutes), typically under $50 per person. If you and your spouse agree on literally everything, qualify for the simplified procedure, and handle your own forms, the courthouse total is the whole bill — a few hundred dollars.
Attorney's fees: the real variable
Orlando family lawyers generally bill hourly, with rates that scale to experience; retainers for contested cases commonly start in the several-thousand-dollar range. What that money buys is time — so the total tracks how much lawyer-time your case genuinely consumes:
- Truly uncontested cases — terms already agreed, lawyer papers it correctly — are usually a few thousand dollars, often on a fixed scope. The drafting is the value: a settlement agreement that says what you mean and doesn't spawn a second case.
- Cases with real but contained disputes — one or two contested issues resolved at mediation — commonly land in the mid-four to low-five figures per side.
- Fully contested cases — full financial discovery, experts, temporary hearings, trial preparation — run well into five figures, and complex or high-conflict matters can go beyond. Trial itself is the single most expensive line item in family law.
The expert layer: when cases need more than lawyers
Complex finances add professionals whose fees are separate from your attorney's: business valuation experts and forensic accountants (commonly $5,000–$25,000+ depending on scope), vocational evaluators (a few thousand dollars), appraisers, and custody evaluators where parenting is genuinely disputed. In high-net-worth cases the expert layer is frequently the difference between a defensible number and an expensive guess — money well spent when there is a business to value or income to reconstruct, and money to skip when there isn't.
What actually drives the total
- Conflict, not complexity. Two reasonable people with a business can finish for less than two furious people with a townhouse. Every position taken out of anger converts directly into billable hours — on both sides.
- Financial opacity. If one spouse hides the ball, the other has to pay to find it: subpoenas, depositions, forensic work. (The remedy: courts can shift those costs to the spouse who caused them.)
- Disputed children's issues. Parenting fights are the most expensive per dollar at stake of anything in family law — and since Florida's 2023 equal time-sharing presumption, some traditional custody battles have become narrower and cheaper. See our guide to what "50/50" really means.
- Lawyer economics. Volume firms bill many hands at once; boutiques staff leanly. Ask any lawyer you interview who, exactly, will touch your file.
Who pays? Florida's fee-shifting rule
Section 61.16, Florida Statutes lets the court order one spouse to pay some or all of the other's attorney's fees and costs based on need and ability to pay — the point being that the spouse who controls the money should not control the outcome. Courts can award fees temporarily (up front, so the case can be litigated at all) and can also sanction a party whose conduct pointlessly inflated the litigation. If there is a significant income gap in your marriage, fee exposure — in either direction — belongs in your strategy from day one.
Keeping the cost down, honestly
- Disclose fast and completely. The 45-day mandatory disclosure exchange (Fla. Fam. L. R. 12.285) happens either way; doing it promptly deletes months of expensive friction.
- Pick your fights by expected value. A $6,000 fight over a $4,000 asset is a donation to two law firms. We tell clients this out loud.
- Use mediation seriously. Nearly every contested Central Florida case mediates before trial; parties who arrive prepared settle most cases there for a fraction of trial cost.
- Scope the experts. One well-chosen valuation done early beats three dueling reports commissioned in a panic before mediation.
- Don't DIY past your depth. Form-kit divorces are fine for simple estates; they are how retirement accounts get divided without QDROs and settlement agreements spawn enforcement litigation. The most expensive divorce is the one you have to fix.
Cost FAQs
A simplified dissolution: no minor children, no pregnancy, written agreement on all property and debts, no alimony, both spouses appear. Filing runs about $408 plus incidentals, and even having a lawyer paper it properly costs a fraction of contested work. The trade-off is that you waive full financial disclosure, trial, and appeal — so it's only cheap if the honest picture really is simple.
Possibly. Under § 61.16 the court weighs your need against your spouse's ability to pay, and can award fees at the start of the case, during it, and at the end — plus sanctions where a party litigates in bad faith. It is a case-by-case call, not automatic, but where one spouse controls the income, fee motions are a standard and often successful tool.
A retainer is a deposit held in trust; the lawyer bills work against it and, in most fee agreements, unused funds are returned. It is not the price of the divorce — it is the down payment on hours. When you interview lawyers, ask the questions that actually predict cost: who staffs the file, what the strategy is for your specific disputes, and what would make your case cheaper.
It costs more than a simple estate, but conflict still dominates: a well-managed seven-figure case with cooperative disclosure and one agreed valuation can cost less than a scorched-earth fight over a modest one. The expert layer (valuation, forensic accounting) is genuinely necessary spending in these cases — the waste comes from duplicated experts, discovery wars, and positions taken for emotion rather than value.
Want a real number for your situation?
Call (407) 749-1034 or request a confidential consultation — we scope strategy and budget candidly at the first meeting.
This article describes Florida law and typical market costs in general terms as of its last update and is not legal advice or a fee quote. Court fees are set by the Orange County Clerk and may change; statutes cited include §§ 61.16 and 61.21, Florida Statutes, and Fla. Fam. L. R. 12.105 and 12.285.