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 Tennessee, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a divorce in Tennessee costs on average $7,400, typically $4,100-$12,400 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 | $2,800 | $4,700 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $4,100 | $7,400 | $12,400 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $12,650 | $18,550 | $29,500 | 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 Tennessee. The recorded median total is $7,400, with reported quotes clustering between $4,100 and $12,400. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $700–$2,600, which leaves roughly $4,800–$6,700 of the Tennessee 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 $7,400, the median divorce cost in Tennessee runs 16% below the $8,798 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Tennessee carries 3 rows — simple, $1,400–$4,700 at $135–$265/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $4,100–$12,400 at $175–$355/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $12,650–$29,500 at $245–$445/hr over 6-18 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures place it in the lower quarter of the table.
$7,400 is a median, not the middle of the band — $3,300 above the $4,100 floor, $5,000 under the $12,400 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Sorted by median cost, Tennessee is 41st of 51 for a divorce, placing it in the lowest-cost quarter of the table: $1,150 and 13% below the $8,550 midpoint, with 10 states recording a lower median still.
Indiana ($7,450) and Montana ($7,350) bracket Tennessee inside a $100 window — narrow enough that 41st is close to arbitrary.
6 tracked states — Idaho, Louisiana, Indiana, Montana among them — record a median within three percent of Tennessee's $7,400. The figure sits in the densest part of the divorce distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Tennessee ranks 37th of 51 on hourly rate at $265 an hour and 41st on total cost — 4 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Tennessee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Nebraska | $7,750 | +$350 |
| 36 | New Mexico | $7,750 | +$350 |
| 37 | West Virginia | $7,750 | +$350 |
| 38 | Idaho | $7,550 | +$150 |
| 39 | Louisiana | $7,500 | +$100 |
| 40 | Indiana | $7,450 | +$50 |
| 41 | Tennessee | $7,400 | — |
| 42 | Montana | $7,350 | −$50 |
| 43 | Oklahoma | $7,300 | −$100 |
| 44 | North Dakota | $7,200 | −$200 |
| 45 | Kentucky | $7,150 | −$250 |
| 46 | South Dakota | $6,950 | −$450 |
| 47 | North Carolina | $6,900 | −$500 |
Within ten percent of the Tennessee figure there are 11 states above and only 7 below. $50 up or $50 down moves Tennessee 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 New Mexico, West Virginia, Idaho, Louisiana, Indiana and adding $350 to the $7,400 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Montana, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Kentucky, South Dakota: $450.
$5,500 short of Hawaii ($12,900), $1,350 clear of Alabama ($6,050).
The $7,400 median divided by the $265 median rate implies roughly 28 billable hours. The peer median is 30 hours: Tennessee reaches its total in 2 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
Tennessee records a 6.6x gap between its simple and complex divorce medians. Decomposed, that is 3.9x more billed time and 1.68x a higher rate: 14 hours at $200 becomes 55 hours at $335.
From $4,100 to $12,400 the moderate band is $8,300 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 $1,644 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $1,546 a month across the 6-18 months recorded for a complex one.
By implied hours Tennessee falls to 42nd of 51 at 28 hours, 1 places below its 41st on cost — the divorce total arriving on less recorded work.
54% up the $4,100–$12,400 band sits the $8,550 table midpoint, buying 32 hours at $265 against the 28 the local divorce median implies — 4 hours apart.
| Measure | Tennessee | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $7,400 | 41st |
| Hourly median | $265 | 37th |
| Implied hours | 28 | 42nd |
| Simple median | $2,800 | 32nd |
| Complex median | $18,550 | 41st |
$265 an hour puts Tennessee between Montana ($265) and Kansas ($250) — 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.
$7,400 buys 37 hours at $200, 28 at $265, 22 at $335.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | Missouri | $265 |
| 36 | Montana | $265 |
| 37 | Tennessee | $265 |
| 38 | Kansas | $250 |
| 39 | Mississippi | $250 |
Ranked tier by tier, Tennessee slides 9 places downward: 32nd at the simple tier, 41st at moderate, 41st at complex. Its headline moderate position sits between the two extremes rather than summarising them.
$2,800 is 32nd of 51 on a straightforward divorce, under Pennsylvania ($2,800) and over Montana ($2,750), $100 under the $2,900 tier midpoint.
$18,550 is 41st of 51 once contested, between Indiana ($18,550) and South Dakota ($18,450), $3,250 off the $21,800 tier midpoint.
The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $4,700 against a moderate floor of $4,100 — but there is a clear gap of $250 between the moderate ceiling of $12,400 and the complex floor of $12,650. In Tennessee the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.
| Tier | Tennessee | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $2,800 | 32nd | $2,900 | 14 |
| moderate | $7,400 | 41st | $8,550 | 28 |
| complex | $18,550 | 41st | $21,800 | 55 |
$2,800 puts Tennessee 32nd of 51 on straightforward matters, 9 up on its moderate position, and $100 (3%) under the $2,900 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $200: 50% of the moderate tier's 28, over 1-3 months.
Pennsylvania ($2,800) and Montana ($2,750) bracket it — a $50 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $2,800 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
$18,550 keeps Tennessee at 41st on contested matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $3,250 (15%) under the $21,800 tier midpoint.
55 implied hours at $335: 196% of the moderate tier's 28, over 6-18 months.
Indiana ($18,550) and South Dakota ($18,450) bracket it — a $100 window.
6 states sit within three percent of the $18,550 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Georgia | $2,800 |
| 31 | Pennsylvania | $2,800 |
| 32 | Tennessee | $2,800 |
| 33 | Montana | $2,750 |
| 34 | Nebraska | $2,700 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 39 | South Carolina | $18,600 |
| 40 | Indiana | $18,550 |
| 41 | Tennessee | $18,550 |
| 42 | South Dakota | $18,450 |
| 43 | Nebraska | $18,050 |
$7,400 ranks a divorce 2nd of 8 in Tennessee, under Criminal Defense, over DUI / DWI. At 87% of Criminal Defense ($8,500).
The state does not rank uniformly. Tennessee is 25th of 51 for Personal Injury but 41st for Divorce, a 16-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 41st on divorce says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 1% below its own midpoint, while Personal Injury runs 22% below its own midpoint — 21 percentage points apart. A single "Tennessee is expensive" or "Tennessee is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The practice areas sit unusually close together in Tennessee — the largest tracked median is 4.6x the smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state — so one figure travels further across matter types here than it would elsewhere.
0 of 8 matter types rank Tennessee in the upper third, 4 in the lower, 4 between; divorce is 41st.
In percentile terms it sits at the 20th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,150 | $8,500 | $26,900 | 32 | 40th | −17% | North Dakota |
| Divorce | $2,800 | $7,400 | $18,550 | 28 | 41st | −13% | Indiana |
| DUI / DWI | $3,000 | $6,550 | $16,350 | 27 | 35th | −12% | Indiana |
| Immigration | $1,600 | $4,700 | $10,650 | 19 | 26th | −1% | Michigan |
| Personal Injury | $1,200 | $4,050 | $12,500 | — | 25th | −22% | North Dakota |
| Bankruptcy | $1,250 | $2,950 | $4,100 | 13 | 38th | −18% | Wyoming |
| Real Estate Closing | $900 | $2,100 | $4,150 | 10 | 27th | −6% | Wyoming |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $500 | $1,850 | $5,400 | 8 | 33rd | −11% | Michigan |
Simple tier. $2,800 ÷ $200 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,400 a month. The $4,600 step to the moderate tier is 14 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $7,400 to $18,550 is a $11,150 step, mostly work: 27 more hours at $265 is $7,155, while moving to $335 across 55 hours adds $3,850. Work carries 65%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Montana ($7,350) is $50 light, Indiana ($7,450) is $50 heavy — but the $8,550 table midpoint is out by $1,150, 23x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $4,100 is 15 hours at $265; $12,400 is 47. 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 Tennessee's own recorded figures, $18,550 buys 6.6 matters at the $2,800 simple median — or, counted in time, 55 implied hours against 14, a factor of 3.9 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Tennesseecourt'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.