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 Maryland, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in Maryland costs on average $8,250, typically $5,500-$11,000 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $230 to $430 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 | $2,300 | $4,000 | $5,700 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,500 | $8,250 | $11,000 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $10,900 | $18,500 | $27,200 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$230 – $430/ hour
Median: $315/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 Maryland. The recorded median total is $8,250, with reported quotes clustering between $5,500 and $11,000. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $4,750–$7,050 of the Maryland 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 $8,250, the median dui / dwi cost in Maryland runs 11% above the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Maryland carries 3 rows — simple, $2,300–$5,700 at $175–$345/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,500–$11,000 at $230–$430/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $10,900–$27,200 at $290–$520/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$8,250 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,750 above the $5,500 floor, $2,750 under the $11,000 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
At 15th of 51, Maryland sits above the midpoint of the dui / dwi table: $800 more than the $7,450 median state, or 11%, with 14 states recording a higher median.
Arizona ($8,250) and Vermont ($8,150) bracket Maryland inside a $100 window — narrow enough that 15th is close to arbitrary.
4 tracked states — Minnesota, Arizona, Vermont, Massachusetts among them — record a median within three percent of Maryland's $8,250. The figure sits in the densest part of the dui / dwi distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Maryland ranks 10th of 51 on hourly rate at $315 an hour and 15th on total cost — 5 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Maryland |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | New York | $8,800 | +$550 |
| 10 | District of Columbia | $8,650 | +$400 |
| 11 | New Hampshire | $8,600 | +$350 |
| 12 | Connecticut | $8,500 | +$250 |
| 13 | Minnesota | $8,300 | +$50 |
| 14 | Arizona | $8,250 | −$0 |
| 15 | Maryland | $8,250 | — |
| 16 | Vermont | $8,150 | −$100 |
| 17 | Massachusetts | $8,050 | −$200 |
| 18 | California | $8,000 | −$250 |
| 19 | Michigan | $7,950 | −$300 |
| 20 | Oregon | $7,950 | −$300 |
| 21 | Illinois | $7,850 | −$400 |
The 15th position is not a stable fact about Maryland: $0 up or $100 down moves Maryland a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 21 rows, 9 above and 12 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Minnesota, Arizona and adding $400 to the $8,250 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Vermont, Massachusetts, California, Michigan, Oregon: $300.
$1,550 short of Washington ($9,800), $2,700 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $8,250 median divided by the $315 median rate implies roughly 26 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours: Maryland reaches its total in 1 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 4.6x a simple one in Maryland, but the implied workload only rises 3.1x — 15 hours at $260 becomes 46 hours at $405 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.56x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $5,500 to $11,000 the moderate band is $5,500 wide, close to the $5,000 peer median. End to end that is 17 hours at $315.
Spread across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $8,250 median works out to roughly $1,833 a month. A complex dui / dwi runs longer, at 6-12 months, but it also runs hotter — about $2,056 a month — so the extra cost is not simply the extra calendar time.
By implied hours Maryland falls to 42nd of 51 at 26 hours, 27 places below its 15th on cost — the dui / dwi total arriving on less recorded work.
35% up the $5,500–$11,000 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 24 hours at $315 against the 26 the local dui / dwi median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | Maryland | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $8,250 | 15th |
| Hourly median | $315 | 10th |
| Implied hours | 26 | 42nd |
| Simple median | $4,000 | 13th |
| Complex median | $18,500 | 16th |
$315 an hour puts Maryland between District of Columbia ($315) and Massachusetts ($315) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
4 other states record exactly $315 — District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia among them — so rate is a coarse instrument in this dui / dwi table.
$8,250 buys 32 hours at $260, 26 at $315, 20 at $405.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Rhode Island | $320 |
| 9 | District of Columbia | $315 |
| 10 | Maryland | $315 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | $315 |
| 12 | Vermont | $315 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 13th at the simple tier, 15th at moderate, 16th at complex of 51 — so Maryland keeps roughly the same relative position whether the dui / dwi is straightforward or contested.
$4,000 is 13th of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Virginia ($4,050) and over Minnesota ($3,900), $600 over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$18,500 is 16th of 51 once contested, between Utah ($18,600) and Massachusetts ($18,450), $2,150 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Maryland: the simple tier reaches $5,700 where the moderate tier starts at $5,500, and the moderate tier reaches $11,000 where the complex tier starts at $10,900. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Maryland | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $4,000 | 13th | $3,400 | 15 |
| moderate | $8,250 | 15th | $7,450 | 26 |
| complex | $18,500 | 16th | $16,350 | 46 |
$4,000 puts Maryland 13th of 51 on straightforward matters, 2 up on its moderate position, and $600 (18%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
15 implied hours at $260: 58% of the moderate tier's 26, over 1-3 months.
Virginia ($4,050) and Minnesota ($3,900) bracket it — a $150 window.
5 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $4,000, denser than the 4 around the moderate row.
$18,500 drops Maryland to 16th of 51 on contested matters, 1 below its moderate position and $2,150 (13%) over the $16,350 tier midpoint.
46 implied hours at $405: 177% of the moderate tier's 26, over 6-12 months.
Utah ($18,600) and Massachusetts ($18,450) bracket it — a $150 window.
6 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $18,500, denser than the 4 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | California | $4,050 |
| 12 | Virginia | $4,050 |
| 13 | Maryland | $4,000 |
| 14 | Minnesota | $3,900 |
| 15 | New Jersey | $3,900 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Arizona | $18,700 |
| 15 | Utah | $18,600 |
| 16 | Maryland | $18,500 |
| 17 | Massachusetts | $18,450 |
| 18 | Connecticut | $18,300 |
$8,250 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in Maryland, under Criminal Defense, over Personal Injury. At 78% of Divorce ($10,550).
Across practice areas Maryland ranges from 8th of 51 for Divorce to 21st for Criminal Defense — a 13-place spread, with its 15th on dui / dwi inside it.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Divorce runs 23% above its own midpoint, while Estate Planning / Probate runs 1% above its own midpoint — 22 percentage points apart. A single "Maryland is expensive" or "Maryland is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Maryland is 5x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
4 of 7 matter types rank Maryland in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 3 between; dui / dwi is 15th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 72th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divorce | $3,750 | $10,550 | $27,650 | 31 | 8th | +23% | California |
| Criminal Defense | $3,650 | $10,500 | $33,450 | 30 | 21st | +3% | Minnesota |
| DUI / DWI | $4,000 | $8,250 | $18,500 | 26 | 15th | +11% | Arizona |
| Personal Injury | $1,600 | $6,000 | $17,300 | — | — | +15% | — |
| Immigration | $2,350 | $5,350 | $13,850 | 17 | 17th | +13% | Minnesota |
| Bankruptcy | $1,700 | $3,800 | $6,050 | 13 | 16th | +6% | Wisconsin |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,250 | $2,300 | $5,350 | 8 | 19th | +3% | Vermont |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,100 | $7,400 | 7 | 20th | +1% | Virginia |
Simple tier. $4,000 ÷ $260 = about 15 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $2,000 a month. The $4,250 step to the moderate tier is 11 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $8,250 to $18,500 is a $10,250 step, mostly work: 20 more hours at $315 is $6,300, while moving to $405 across 46 hours adds $4,140. Work carries 60%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Vermont ($8,150) is $100 light, Arizona ($8,250) is $0 heavy — but the $7,450 table midpoint is out by $800, 8x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $5,500 is 17 hours at $315; $11,000 is 35. 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 Maryland's own recorded figures, $18,500 buys 4.6 matters at the $4,000 simple median — or, counted in time, 46 implied hours against 15, a factor of 3.1 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Marylandcourt'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.