This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for dui / dwi in Georgia, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in Georgia costs on average $7,700, typically $5,150-$10,300 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $190 to $355 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 3-6 months to resolve. Common related costs include court filing fee ($100-$300) and dmv hearing fee ($100-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $1,850 | $3,250 | $4,700 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,150 | $7,700 | $10,300 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $10,000 | $17,000 | $25,000 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$190 – $355/ hour
Median: $260/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>DUI/DWI legal cost has two layers that are easy to underestimate: the attorney fee itself, and the non-attorney costs that follow a conviction or plea. The attorney fee is driven mainly by whether the case goes to trial (far more hours billed) or resolves through a plea agreement, plus complicating factors like BAC level, prior offenses, or an accident with injuries. Many DUI attorneys charge a flat fee for a straightforward first offense and switch to hourly billing once the case becomes contested.
Beyond the attorney, a DUI case typically layers on court fines, a state-mandated alcohol education or treatment program, license reinstatement fees, and — for many drivers — an ignition interlock device with ongoing monthly costs. Insurance premium increases are not a one-time legal cost but often the largest total expense over a 3-5 year period following conviction, which is why the figures on this page reflect legal defense costs specifically, not the lifetime cost of a conviction.
Take a moderate-complexity dui / dwi matter in Georgia. The recorded median total is $7,700, with reported quotes clustering between $5,150 and $10,300. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $4,200–$6,500 of the Georgia median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. 2 further recorded fees are not itemised above and are not in that total.
At $7,700, the median dui / dwi cost in Georgia runs 4% above the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Georgia carries 3 rows — simple, $1,850–$4,700 at $145–$285/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,150–$10,300 at $190–$355/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $10,000–$25,000 at $240–$430/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$7,700 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,550 above the $5,150 floor, $2,600 under the $10,300 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
At 24th of 51, Georgia sits above the midpoint of the dui / dwi table: $250 more than the $7,450 median state, or 3%, with 23 states recording a higher median.
Utah ($7,750) and Nevada ($7,450) bracket Georgia inside a $300 window — narrow enough that 24th is close to arbitrary.
Illinois, Texas, Utah record medians within three percent of Georgia's $7,700. A dui / dwi quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
On hourly rate alone Georgia is 29th of 51 at $260 an hour, 5 places behind its 24th position on total cost.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Georgia |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | California | $8,000 | +$300 |
| 19 | Michigan | $7,950 | +$250 |
| 20 | Oregon | $7,950 | +$250 |
| 21 | Illinois | $7,850 | +$150 |
| 22 | Texas | $7,800 | +$100 |
| 23 | Utah | $7,750 | +$50 |
| 24 | Georgia | $7,700 | — |
| 25 | Nevada | $7,450 | −$250 |
| 26 | Wisconsin | $7,450 | −$250 |
| 27 | Wyoming | $7,450 | −$250 |
| 28 | Maine | $7,200 | −$500 |
| 29 | Florida | $7,150 | −$550 |
| 30 | Montana | $7,150 | −$550 |
Within ten percent of the Georgia figure there are 11 states above and only 7 below. $50 up or $250 down moves Georgia a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the dui / dwi field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Michigan, Oregon, Illinois, Texas, Utah and adding $250 to the $7,700 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Nevada, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Maine, Florida: $550.
$2,100 short of Washington ($9,800), $2,150 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $7,700 median divided by the $260 median rate implies roughly 30 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours, so 3 more hours of work sit behind the Georgia figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 5.2x a simple one in Georgia, but the implied workload only rises 3.4x — 15 hours at $215 becomes 51 hours at $335 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.56x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $5,150 to $10,300 the moderate band is $5,150 wide, close to the $5,000 peer median. End to end that is 20 hours at $260.
Spread across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $7,700 median works out to roughly $1,711 a month. A complex dui / dwi runs longer, at 6-12 months, but it also runs hotter — about $1,889 a month — so the extra cost is not simply the extra calendar time.
A third ordering: by implied hours Georgia is 4th of 51 at 30 hours, 20 places above its cost rank of 24th on cost — more work behind the same dui / dwi money.
45% up the $5,150–$10,300 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 29 hours at $260 against the 30 the local dui / dwi median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | Georgia | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $7,700 | 24th |
| Hourly median | $260 | 29th |
| Implied hours | 30 | 4th |
| Simple median | $3,250 | 30th |
| Complex median | $17,000 | 23rd |
$260 an hour puts Georgia between Florida ($265) and Ohio ($255) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
No other tracked state records $260 as its median rate, so the figure identifies Georgia on its own within this dataset.
$7,700 buys 36 hours at $215, 30 at $260, 23 at $335.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | Michigan | $270 |
| 28 | Florida | $265 |
| 29 | Georgia | $260 |
| 30 | Ohio | $255 |
| 31 | Wyoming | $250 |
Georgia moves up the table as complexity rises: 30th at the simple tier, 24th at moderate, 23rd at complex, a 7-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
$3,250 is 30th of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Utah ($3,300) and over Indiana ($3,250), $150 under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$17,000 is 23rd of 51 once contested, between Oregon ($17,400) and Ohio ($16,700), $650 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
$450 separates the simple ceiling of $4,700 from the moderate floor of $5,150, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $10,000 upward. The expensive end of a routine dui / dwi and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Georgia.
| Tier | Georgia | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,250 | 30th | $3,400 | 15 |
| moderate | $7,700 | 24th | $7,450 | 30 |
| complex | $17,000 | 23rd | $16,350 | 51 |
$3,250 drops Georgia to 30th of 51 on straightforward matters, 6 below its moderate position and $150 (4%) under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
15 implied hours at $215: 50% of the moderate tier's 30, over 1-3 months.
Utah ($3,300) and Indiana ($3,250) bracket it — a $50 window.
4 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $3,250, denser than the 3 around the moderate row.
$17,000 puts Georgia 23rd of 51 on contested matters, 1 up on its moderate position, and $650 (4%) over the $16,350 tier midpoint.
51 implied hours at $335: 170% of the moderate tier's 30, over 6-12 months.
Oregon ($17,400) and Ohio ($16,700) bracket it — a $700 window.
4 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $17,000, denser than the 3 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Ohio | $3,300 |
| 29 | Utah | $3,300 |
| 30 | Georgia | $3,250 |
| 31 | Indiana | $3,250 |
| 32 | Idaho | $3,150 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Nevada | $17,450 |
| 22 | Oregon | $17,400 |
| 23 | Georgia | $17,000 |
| 24 | Ohio | $16,700 |
| 25 | Texas | $16,600 |
$7,700 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in Georgia, under Divorce, over Personal Injury. At 76% of Criminal Defense ($10,150).
The state does not rank uniformly. Georgia is 15th of 51 for Personal Injury but 33rd for Real Estate Closing, a 18-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 24th on dui / dwi says little about what the other lines cost.
Georgia is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Divorce runs 5% above its own midpoint while Real Estate Closing runs 15% below its own midpoint — a 20-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Georgia is 5.3x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
1 of 8 matter types rank Georgia in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 7 between; dui / dwi is 24th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 54th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,250 | $10,150 | $29,900 | 36 | 27th | level | Alaska |
| Divorce | $2,800 | $8,950 | $19,150 | 31 | 22nd | +5% | Minnesota |
| DUI / DWI | $3,250 | $7,700 | $17,000 | 30 | 24th | +3% | Utah |
| Personal Injury | $1,500 | $5,150 | $14,000 | — | 15th | −1% | District of Columbia |
| Immigration | $2,000 | $4,400 | $11,350 | 17 | 29th | −7% | Idaho |
| Bankruptcy | $1,300 | $3,100 | $5,200 | 13 | 33rd | −14% | North Carolina |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $600 | $2,050 | $5,750 | 8 | 24th | −1% | Wisconsin |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,000 | $1,900 | $4,050 | 8 | 33rd | −15% | West Virginia |
Simple tier. $3,250 ÷ $215 = about 15 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,625 a month. The $4,450 step to the moderate tier is 15 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $7,700 to $17,000 is a $9,300 step weighted toward price: 21 more hours at $260 is $5,460, but $335 across 51 hours adds $3,825 — 41% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Nevada ($7,450) lands $250 under Georgia; from Utah ($7,750), $50 over; from the $7,450 table midpoint, $250 out.
Both ends, in time. $5,150 is 20 hours at $260; $10,300 is 40. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate dui / dwi, that is 4 to 9 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Georgia's own recorded figures, $17,000 buys 5.2 matters at the $3,250 simple median — or, counted in time, 51 implied hours against 15, a factor of 3.4 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Georgiacourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.