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 divorce in Montana, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a divorce in Montana costs on average $7,350, typically $4,100-$12,300 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $175 to $355 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 3-6 months to resolve. Common related costs include court filing fee ($100-$400) and service of process ($50-$100).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $1,400 | $2,750 | $4,600 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $4,100 | $7,350 | $12,300 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $13,850 | $20,350 | $32,400 | 6-18 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$175 – $355/ hour
Median: $265/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>Divorce costs form around two variables that compound each other: how much the spouses disagree on, and how many separate issues (property division, child custody, child support, alimony) are in dispute. An uncontested divorce with no minor children and no real estate can resolve with a single court filing fee and a document-preparation charge. Once custody or asset division is contested, cost accumulates from discovery (formal document exchange), mediation sessions billed hourly, and — in the most complex cases — expert witnesses such as forensic accountants (business or investment valuation) and custody evaluators.
Attorney billing in divorce is typically hourly rather than flat-fee, because the number of court appearances and negotiation rounds is not knowable in advance. A retainer is paid upfront and drawn down as the attorney bills time; complex cases often require replenishing the retainer more than once. Court filing fees and mediation fees are set by the state or county and apply regardless of which attorney is hired.
Take a moderate-complexity divorce matter in Montana. The recorded median total is $7,350, with reported quotes clustering between $4,100 and $12,300. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $700–$2,600, which leaves roughly $4,750–$6,650 of the Montana median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. One further recorded fee is not itemised above and is not in that total.
At $7,350, the median divorce cost in Montana runs 16% below the $8,798 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Montana carries 3 rows — simple, $1,400–$4,600 at $135–$265/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $4,100–$12,300 at $175–$355/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $13,850–$32,400 at $245–$445/hr over 6-18 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures place it in the lower quarter of the table.
$7,350 is a median, not the middle of the band — $3,250 above the $4,100 floor, $4,950 under the $12,300 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Sorted by median cost, Montana is 42nd of 51 for a divorce, placing it in the lowest-cost quarter of the table: $1,200 and 14% below the $8,550 midpoint, with 9 states recording a lower median still.
Tennessee ($7,400) and Oklahoma ($7,300) bracket Montana inside a $100 window — narrow enough that 42nd is close to arbitrary.
7 tracked states — Idaho, Louisiana, Indiana, Tennessee among them — record a median within three percent of Montana's $7,350. The figure sits in the densest part of the divorce distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
The two rankings disagree sharply. Montana attorneys sit 36th of 51 on hourly rate at $265 an hour, but the state is only 42nd on total divorce cost — the recorded matters resolve in fewer billed hours than the rate alone would produce.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Montana |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | New Mexico | $7,750 | +$400 |
| 37 | West Virginia | $7,750 | +$400 |
| 38 | Idaho | $7,550 | +$200 |
| 39 | Louisiana | $7,500 | +$150 |
| 40 | Indiana | $7,450 | +$100 |
| 41 | Tennessee | $7,400 | +$50 |
| 42 | Montana | $7,350 | — |
| 43 | Oklahoma | $7,300 | −$50 |
| 44 | North Dakota | $7,200 | −$150 |
| 45 | Kentucky | $7,150 | −$200 |
| 46 | South Dakota | $6,950 | −$400 |
| 47 | North Carolina | $6,900 | −$450 |
| 48 | Kansas | $6,850 | −$500 |
Within ten percent of the Montana figure there are 11 states above and only 6 below. $50 up or $50 down moves Montana a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the divorce field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing West Virginia, Idaho, Louisiana, Indiana, Tennessee and adding $400 to the $7,350 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Oklahoma, North Dakota, Kentucky, South Dakota, North Carolina: $450.
$5,550 short of Hawaii ($12,900), $1,300 clear of Alabama ($6,050).
The $7,350 median divided by the $265 median rate implies roughly 28 billable hours. The peer median is 30 hours: Montana reaches its total in 2 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
The 7.4x step from the simple to the complex tier breaks down as 4.4x the hours against 1.65x the rate — 14 hours at $200 becomes 62 hours at $330. Hours dominate, but the rate contribution is large enough to notice.
From $4,100 to $12,300 the moderate band is $8,200 wide, close to the $9,550 peer median. End to end that is 31 hours at $265.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $1,633 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $1,696 a month across the 6-18 months recorded for a complex one.
By implied hours Montana falls to 43rd of 51 at 28 hours, 1 places below its 42nd on cost — the divorce total arriving on less recorded work.
54% up the $4,100–$12,300 band sits the $8,550 table midpoint, buying 32 hours at $265 against the 28 the local divorce median implies — 4 hours apart.
| Measure | Montana | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $7,350 | 42nd |
| Hourly median | $265 | 36th |
| Implied hours | 28 | 43rd |
| Simple median | $2,750 | 33rd |
| Complex median | $20,350 | 31st |
$265 an hour puts Montana between Missouri ($265) and Tennessee ($265) — not the divorce cost pairing.
5 other states record exactly $265 — Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri among them — so rate is a coarse instrument in this divorce table.
$7,350 buys 37 hours at $200, 28 at $265, 22 at $330.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | Iowa | $265 |
| 35 | Missouri | $265 |
| 36 | Montana | $265 |
| 37 | Tennessee | $265 |
| 38 | Kansas | $250 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 33rd at the simple tier, 42nd at moderate, 31st at complex of 51 — so Montana keeps roughly the same relative position whether the divorce is straightforward or contested.
$2,750 is 33rd of 51 on a straightforward divorce, under Tennessee ($2,800) and over Nebraska ($2,700), $150 under the $2,900 tier midpoint.
$20,350 is 31st of 51 once contested, between Missouri ($20,750) and Iowa ($20,100), $1,450 off the $21,800 tier midpoint.
The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $4,600 against a moderate floor of $4,100 — but there is a clear gap of $1,550 between the moderate ceiling of $12,300 and the complex floor of $13,850. In Montana the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.
| Tier | Montana | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $2,750 | 33rd | $2,900 | 14 |
| moderate | $7,350 | 42nd | $8,550 | 28 |
| complex | $20,350 | 31st | $21,800 | 62 |
$2,750 puts Montana 33rd of 51 on straightforward matters, 9 up on its moderate position, and $150 (5%) under the $2,900 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $200: 50% of the moderate tier's 28, over 1-3 months.
Tennessee ($2,800) and Nebraska ($2,700) bracket it — a $100 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $2,750 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
$20,350 puts Montana 31st of 51 on contested matters, 11 up on its moderate position, and $1,450 (7%) under the $21,800 tier midpoint.
62 implied hours at $330: 221% of the moderate tier's 28, over 6-18 months.
Missouri ($20,750) and Iowa ($20,100) bracket it — a $650 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $20,350 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Pennsylvania | $2,800 |
| 32 | Tennessee | $2,800 |
| 33 | Montana | $2,750 |
| 34 | Nebraska | $2,700 |
| 35 | Idaho | $2,650 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Idaho | $20,900 |
| 30 | Missouri | $20,750 |
| 31 | Montana | $20,350 |
| 32 | Iowa | $20,100 |
| 33 | Mississippi | $20,000 |
$7,350 ranks a divorce 2nd of 8 in Montana, under Criminal Defense, over DUI / DWI. At 86% of Criminal Defense ($8,550).
The state does not rank uniformly. Montana is 27th of 51 for Immigration but 42nd for Divorce, a 15-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 42nd on divorce says little about what the other lines cost.
Montana is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, DUI / DWI runs 4% below its own midpoint while Personal Injury runs 19% below its own midpoint — a 15-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Montana is 5x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
0 of 5 matter types rank Montana in the upper third, 2 in the lower, 3 between; divorce is 42nd.
In percentile terms it sits at the 18th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,050 | $8,550 | $26,200 | 32 | 38th | −16% | North Carolina |
| Divorce | $2,750 | $7,350 | $20,350 | 28 | 42nd | −14% | Tennessee |
| DUI / DWI | $2,800 | $7,150 | $13,700 | 29 | 30th | −4% | Florida |
| Immigration | $1,800 | $4,500 | $9,300 | 18 | 27th | −5% | Tennessee |
| Personal Injury | $1,200 | $4,200 | $13,000 | — | — | −19% | — |
| Bankruptcy | $1,300 | $3,350 | $4,500 | 15 | — | −7% | — |
| Real Estate Closing | $800 | $1,950 | $3,600 | 9 | 30th | −12% | Florida |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $500 | $1,700 | $5,600 | 7 | — | −18% | — |
Simple tier. $2,750 ÷ $200 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,375 a month. The $4,600 step to the moderate tier is 14 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $7,350 to $20,350 is a $13,000 step, mostly work: 34 more hours at $265 is $9,010, while moving to $330 across 62 hours adds $4,030. Work carries 69%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Oklahoma ($7,300) is $50 light, Tennessee ($7,400) is $50 heavy — but the $8,550 table midpoint is out by $1,200, 24x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $4,100 is 15 hours at $265; $12,300 is 46. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate divorce, that is 3 to 10 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Montana's own recorded figures, $20,350 buys 7.4 matters at the $2,750 simple median — or, counted in time, 62 implied hours against 14, a factor of 4.4 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Montanacourt'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.