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 South Carolina, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a divorce in South Carolina costs on average $6,450, typically $3,600-$10,800 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $160 to $320 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 | $1,250 | $2,500 | $4,100 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $3,600 | $6,450 | $10,800 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $12,700 | $18,600 | $29,600 | 6-18 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$160 – $320/ hour
Median: $240/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
New to how attorney fees work? Read the legal fees guide — hourly, flat, and contingency billing explained.
Researching costs in another area? These free tools from our network may help.
Add this calculator to your own site with a copy-paste snippet — includes an attribution link back to this page.
<iframe
id="legalcostcalc-embed"
src="https://legalcostcalc.co/embed/south-carolina/divorce-cost"
title="South Carolina Divorce Cost Calculator"
width="100%"
height="720"
style="border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;max-width:768px;"
loading="lazy"
></iframe>
<p style="font-size:12px;text-align:center;">
<a href="https://legalcostcalc.co/south-carolina/divorce-cost?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=embed_snippet" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow ugc">
Powered by LegalCostCalc
</a>
</p>
<script>
window.addEventListener("message", function (event) {
if (!event.data || event.data.type !== "legalcostcalc:embed-resize") return;
var frame = document.getElementById("legalcostcalc-embed");
if (frame && typeof event.data.height === "number") {
frame.style.height = event.data.height + "px";
}
});
</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 South Carolina. The recorded median total is $6,450, with reported quotes clustering between $3,600 and $10,800. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $700–$2,600, which leaves roughly $3,850–$5,750 of the South Carolina 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 $6,450, the median divorce cost in South Carolina runs 27% below the $8,798 national average across all 50 states and DC.
South Carolina carries 3 rows — simple, $1,250–$4,100 at $120–$240/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $3,600–$10,800 at $160–$320/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $12,700–$29,600 at $220–$400/hr over 6-18 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures place it in the lower quarter of the table.
$6,450 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,850 above the $3,600 floor, $4,350 under the $10,800 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Sorted by median cost, South Carolina is 50th of 51 for a divorce, placing it in the lowest-cost quarter of the table: $2,100 and 25% below the $8,550 midpoint, with 1 states recording a lower median still.
Arkansas is only $0 above South Carolina at $6,450, but the drop to Alabama at $6,050 is $400 — the state sits at the bottom edge of its group, with clear air beneath it.
Only one other tracked state, Arkansas, records a median within three percent of South Carolina's $6,450 — a pairing rather than a cluster.
South Carolina ranks 45th of 51 on hourly rate at $240 an hour and 50th on total cost — 5 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against South Carolina |
|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | North Dakota | $7,200 | +$750 |
| 45 | Kentucky | $7,150 | +$700 |
| 46 | South Dakota | $6,950 | +$500 |
| 47 | North Carolina | $6,900 | +$450 |
| 48 | Kansas | $6,850 | +$400 |
| 49 | Arkansas | $6,450 | −$0 |
| 50 | South Carolina | $6,450 | — |
| 51 | Alabama | $6,050 | −$400 |
$0 up or $400 down moves South Carolina a row, and only 4 tracked states sit within ten percent of the South Carolina figure: 3 above it and 1 below. The position is comparatively well separated from its neighbours.
Climbing five places would mean passing Kentucky, South Dakota, North Carolina, Kansas, Arkansas and adding $700 to the $6,450 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Alabama: $400.
$6,450 short of Hawaii ($12,900), $400 clear of Alabama ($6,050).
The $6,450 median divided by the $240 median rate implies roughly 27 billable hours. The peer median is 30 hours: South Carolina reaches its total in 3 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 1.67x the rate — 14 hours at $180 becomes 62 hours at $300. Hours dominate, but the rate contribution is large enough to notice.
The South Carolina moderate band spans $3,600 to $10,800 — $7,200 — which is $2,350 narrower than the peer-median band of $9,550, so quoted divorce figures cluster more tightly here than in most tracked states. End to end that is 30 hours at $240.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $1,433 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $1,550 a month across the 6-18 months recorded for a complex one.
By implied hours South Carolina falls to 51st of 51 at 27 hours, 1 places below its 50th on cost — the divorce total arriving on less recorded work.
69% up the $3,600–$10,800 band sits the $8,550 table midpoint, buying 36 hours at $240 against the 27 the local divorce median implies — 9 hours apart.
| Measure | South Carolina | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $6,450 | 50th |
| Hourly median | $240 | 45th |
| Implied hours | 27 | 51st |
| Simple median | $2,500 | 42nd |
| Complex median | $18,600 | 39th |
$240 an hour puts South Carolina between New Mexico ($240) and South Dakota ($240) — not the divorce cost pairing.
New Mexico, South Dakota record the same $240: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$6,450 buys 36 hours at $180, 27 at $240, 22 at $300.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 43 | West Virginia | $250 |
| 44 | New Mexico | $240 |
| 45 | South Carolina | $240 |
| 46 | South Dakota | $240 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $235 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 42nd at the simple tier, 50th at moderate, 39th at complex of 51 — so South Carolina keeps roughly the same relative position whether the divorce is straightforward or contested.
$2,500 is 42nd of 51 on a straightforward divorce, under North Carolina ($2,500) and over Wyoming ($2,500), $400 under the $2,900 tier midpoint.
$18,600 is 39th of 51 once contested, between Ohio ($19,100) and Indiana ($18,550), $3,200 off the $21,800 tier midpoint.
The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $4,100 against a moderate floor of $3,600 — but there is a clear gap of $1,900 between the moderate ceiling of $10,800 and the complex floor of $12,700. In South Carolina the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.
| Tier | South Carolina | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $2,500 | 42nd | $2,900 | 14 |
| moderate | $6,450 | 50th | $8,550 | 27 |
| complex | $18,600 | 39th | $21,800 | 62 |
$2,500 puts South Carolina 42nd of 51 on straightforward matters, 8 up on its moderate position, and $400 (14%) under the $2,900 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $180: 52% of the moderate tier's 27, over 1-3 months.
North Carolina ($2,500) and Wyoming ($2,500) bracket it — a $0 window.
7 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $2,500, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
$18,600 puts South Carolina 39th of 51 on contested matters, 11 up on its moderate position, and $3,200 (15%) under the $21,800 tier midpoint.
62 implied hours at $300: 230% of the moderate tier's 27, over 6-18 months.
Ohio ($19,100) and Indiana ($18,550) bracket it — a $550 window.
8 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $18,600, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | Louisiana | $2,500 |
| 41 | North Carolina | $2,500 |
| 42 | South Carolina | $2,500 |
| 43 | Wyoming | $2,500 |
| 44 | Mississippi | $2,450 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 37 | Kansas | $19,100 |
| 38 | Ohio | $19,100 |
| 39 | South Carolina | $18,600 |
| 40 | Indiana | $18,550 |
| 41 | Tennessee | $18,550 |
$6,450 ranks a divorce 2nd of 8 in South Carolina, under Criminal Defense, over DUI / DWI. At 74% of Criminal Defense ($8,700).
The state does not rank uniformly. South Carolina is 35th of 51 for Criminal Defense but 51st for DUI / DWI, a 16-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 50th on divorce says little about what the other lines cost.
South Carolina is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Criminal Defense runs 15% below its own midpoint while Estate Planning / Probate runs 28% below its own midpoint — a 13-point spread between the extremes.
South Carolina's practice areas fan out more than most: its largest tracked median is 5.8x its smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state. Prices here are set matter by matter rather than by one statewide level.
All 7 tracked matter types place South Carolina in the lower third of their tables, the divorce figure included.
In percentile terms it sits at the 2th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,000 | $8,700 | $23,100 | 36 | 35th | −15% | Missouri |
| Divorce | $2,500 | $6,450 | $18,600 | 27 | 50th | −25% | Arkansas |
| DUI / DWI | $2,550 | $5,550 | $13,050 | 25 | 51st | −26% | Oklahoma |
| Immigration | $1,500 | $4,000 | $8,250 | 18 | 41st | −16% | Arkansas |
| Personal Injury | $1,200 | $3,850 | $12,200 | — | — | −26% | — |
| Bankruptcy | $1,100 | $3,050 | $4,250 | 15 | 36th | −15% | North Dakota |
| Real Estate Closing | $850 | $1,800 | $3,900 | 9 | 37th | −19% | North Carolina |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $450 | $1,500 | $4,550 | 7 | 44th | −28% | Oklahoma |
Simple tier. $2,500 ÷ $180 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,250 a month. The $3,950 step to the moderate tier is 13 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $6,450 to $18,600 is a $12,150 step, mostly work: 35 more hours at $240 is $8,400, while moving to $300 across 62 hours adds $3,720. Work carries 69%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Alabama ($6,050) is $400 light, Arkansas ($6,450) is $0 heavy — but the $8,550 table midpoint is out by $2,100, 5x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $3,600 is 15 hours at $240; $10,800 is 45. 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 South Carolina's own recorded figures, $18,600 buys 7.4 matters at the $2,500 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 South Carolinacourt'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.