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 Maine, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in Maine costs on average $7,200, typically $4,800-$9,600 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $200 to $370 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 | $2,100 | $3,650 | $5,200 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $4,800 | $7,200 | $9,600 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $9,400 | $15,950 | $23,500 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$200 – $370/ hour
Median: $270/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 Maine. The recorded median total is $7,200, with reported quotes clustering between $4,800 and $9,600. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $3,700–$6,000 of the Maine 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 $7,200, the median dui / dwi cost in Maine runs 3% below the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Maine carries 3 rows — simple, $2,100–$5,200 at $150–$295/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $4,800–$9,600 at $200–$370/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $9,400–$23,500 at $250–$445/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$7,200 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,400 above the $4,800 floor, $2,400 under the $9,600 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Maine occupies the 28th row of 51 for a dui / dwi. Its $7,200 median trails the $7,450 table midpoint by $250, which is 3% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Florida is the nearest state below at $7,150 — $50 away — while the next state up, Wyoming, is a wider $250 step at $7,450. Maine therefore sits at the top edge of a band rather than in the middle of one.
Florida, Montana record medians within three percent of Maine's $7,200. A dui / dwi quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
The two measures nearly agree: 26th of 51 on hourly rate at $270 an hour, 28th on total cost, 2 places apart.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Maine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Texas | $7,800 | +$600 |
| 23 | Utah | $7,750 | +$550 |
| 24 | Georgia | $7,700 | +$500 |
| 25 | Nevada | $7,450 | +$250 |
| 26 | Wisconsin | $7,450 | +$250 |
| 27 | Wyoming | $7,450 | +$250 |
| 28 | Maine | $7,200 | — |
| 29 | Florida | $7,150 | −$50 |
| 30 | Montana | $7,150 | −$50 |
| 31 | Pennsylvania | $6,950 | −$250 |
| 32 | Idaho | $6,850 | −$350 |
| 33 | Ohio | $6,850 | −$350 |
| 34 | Indiana | $6,800 | −$400 |
The 28th position is not a stable fact about Maine: $250 up or $50 down moves Maine a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 14 rows, 7 above and 7 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing Utah, Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Wyoming and adding $550 to the $7,200 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Florida, Montana, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Ohio: $350.
$2,600 short of Washington ($9,800), $1,650 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $7,200 median divided by the $270 median rate implies roughly 27 billable hours. That rounds to the same 27 hours as the peer median, so on workload Maine is indistinguishable from the middle of the table at this precision.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 4.4x a simple one in Maine, but the implied workload only rises 2.9x — 16 hours at $225 becomes 46 hours at $345 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.53x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $4,800 to $9,600 the moderate band is $4,800 wide, close to the $5,000 peer median. End to end that is 18 hours at $270.
Spread across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $7,200 median works out to roughly $1,600 a month. A complex dui / dwi runs longer, at 6-12 months, but it also runs hotter — about $1,772 a month — so the extra cost is not simply the extra calendar time.
By implied hours Maine falls to 36th of 51 at 27 hours, 8 places below its 28th on cost — the dui / dwi total arriving on less recorded work.
55% up the $4,800–$9,600 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 28 hours at $270 against the 27 the local dui / dwi median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | Maine | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $7,200 | 28th |
| Hourly median | $270 | 26th |
| Implied hours | 27 | 36th |
| Simple median | $3,650 | 22nd |
| Complex median | $15,950 | 29th |
$270 an hour puts Maine between Nevada ($275) and Michigan ($270) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
Michigan records the same $270: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$7,200 buys 32 hours at $225, 27 at $270, 21 at $345.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | Wisconsin | $280 |
| 25 | Nevada | $275 |
| 26 | Maine | $270 |
| 27 | Michigan | $270 |
| 28 | Florida | $265 |
Ranked tier by tier, Maine slides 7 places downward: 22nd at the simple tier, 28th at moderate, 29th at complex. Its headline moderate position sits between the two extremes rather than summarising them.
$3,650 is 22nd of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Illinois ($3,650) and over Vermont ($3,600), $250 over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$15,950 is 29th of 51 once contested, between Indiana ($16,000) and Wisconsin ($15,950), $400 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Maine: the simple tier reaches $5,200 where the moderate tier starts at $4,800, and the moderate tier reaches $9,600 where the complex tier starts at $9,400. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Maine | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,650 | 22nd | $3,400 | 16 |
| moderate | $7,200 | 28th | $7,450 | 27 |
| complex | $15,950 | 29th | $16,350 | 46 |
$3,650 puts Maine 22nd of 51 on straightforward matters, 6 up on its moderate position, and $250 (7%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
16 implied hours at $225: 59% of the moderate tier's 27, over 1-3 months.
Illinois ($3,650) and Vermont ($3,600) bracket it — a $50 window.
5 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $3,650, denser than the 2 around the moderate row.
$15,950 drops Maine to 29th of 51 on contested matters, 1 below its moderate position and $400 (2%) under the $16,350 tier midpoint.
46 implied hours at $345: 170% of the moderate tier's 27, over 6-12 months.
Indiana ($16,000) and Wisconsin ($15,950) bracket it — a $50 window.
4 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $15,950, denser than the 2 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Florida | $3,650 |
| 21 | Illinois | $3,650 |
| 22 | Maine | $3,650 |
| 23 | Vermont | $3,600 |
| 24 | Nevada | $3,500 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | Pennsylvania | $16,050 |
| 28 | Indiana | $16,000 |
| 29 | Maine | $15,950 |
| 30 | Wisconsin | $15,950 |
| 31 | Nebraska | $15,300 |
$7,200 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in Maine, under Divorce, over Personal Injury. At 66% of Criminal Defense ($10,850).
Across practice areas Maine ranges from 17th of 51 for Criminal Defense to 28th for DUI / DWI — a 11-place spread, with its 28th on dui / dwi inside it.
Maine is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Immigration runs 12% above its own midpoint while Real Estate Closing runs 8% below its own midpoint — a 20-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Maine 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 6 matter types rank Maine in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 5 between; dui / dwi is 28th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 46th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,350 | $10,850 | $29,900 | 37 | 17th | +6% | Texas |
| Divorce | $3,150 | $9,400 | $22,850 | 32 | 20th | +10% | Utah |
| DUI / DWI | $3,650 | $7,200 | $15,950 | 27 | 28th | −3% | Wyoming |
| Personal Injury | $1,600 | $5,350 | $15,850 | — | — | +3% | — |
| Immigration | $2,050 | $5,300 | $11,750 | 20 | 19th | +12% | Nevada |
| Bankruptcy | $1,500 | $3,350 | $4,950 | 13 | 27th | −7% | Ohio |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,150 | $5,900 | 8 | 18th | +4% | Delaware |
| Real Estate Closing | $900 | $2,050 | $4,550 | 8 | — | −8% | — |
Simple tier. $3,650 ÷ $225 = about 16 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,825 a month. The $3,550 step to the moderate tier is 11 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $7,200 to $15,950 is a $8,750 step, mostly work: 19 more hours at $270 is $5,130, while moving to $345 across 46 hours adds $3,450. Work carries 60%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Florida ($7,150) lands $50 under Maine; from Wyoming ($7,450), $250 over; from the $7,450 table midpoint, $250 out.
Both ends, in time. $4,800 is 18 hours at $270; $9,600 is 36. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate dui / dwi, that is 4 to 8 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Maine's own recorded figures, $15,950 buys 4.4 matters at the $3,650 simple median — or, counted in time, 46 implied hours against 16, a factor of 2.9 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Mainecourt'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.