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 Utah, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a divorce in Utah costs on average $9,500, typically $5,250-$15,800 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $210 to $415 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 | $1,600 | $3,200 | $5,300 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $5,250 | $9,500 | $15,800 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $15,600 | $22,900 | $36,400 | 6-18 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$210 – $415/ hour
Median: $315/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 Utah. The recorded median total is $9,500, with reported quotes clustering between $5,250 and $15,800. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $700–$2,600, which leaves roughly $6,900–$8,800 of the Utah 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 $9,500, the median divorce cost in Utah runs 8% above the $8,798 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Utah carries 3 rows — simple, $1,600–$5,300 at $155–$315/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $5,250–$15,800 at $210–$415/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $15,600–$36,400 at $285–$520/hr over 6-18 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$9,500 is a median, not the middle of the band — $4,250 above the $5,250 floor, $6,300 under the $15,800 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
At 19th of 51, Utah sits above the midpoint of the divorce table: $950 more than the $8,550 median state, or 11%, with 18 states recording a higher median.
Michigan ($9,600) and Maine ($9,400) bracket Utah inside a $200 window — narrow enough that 19th is close to arbitrary.
5 tracked states — District of Columbia, Illinois, Michigan, Maine among them — record a median within three percent of Utah's $9,500. The figure sits in the densest part of the divorce distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Rate and total sit 2 places apart — 21st of 51 at $315 an hour against 19th on the divorce total — which is close enough to read as the same signal.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Utah |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Vermont | $10,100 | +$600 |
| 14 | New Jersey | $10,050 | +$550 |
| 15 | Connecticut | $10,000 | +$500 |
| 16 | District of Columbia | $9,700 | +$200 |
| 17 | Illinois | $9,650 | +$150 |
| 18 | Michigan | $9,600 | +$100 |
| 19 | Utah | $9,500 | — |
| 20 | Maine | $9,400 | −$100 |
| 21 | Minnesota | $9,350 | −$150 |
| 22 | Georgia | $8,950 | −$550 |
| 23 | Nevada | $8,950 | −$550 |
| 24 | Texas | $8,900 | −$600 |
| 25 | Oregon | $8,850 | −$650 |
The 19th position is not a stable fact about Utah: $100 up or $100 down moves Utah a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 17 rows, 10 above and 7 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing New Jersey, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Michigan and adding $550 to the $9,500 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Maine, Minnesota, Georgia, Nevada, Texas: $600.
$3,400 short of Hawaii ($12,900), $3,450 clear of Alabama ($6,050).
The $9,500 median divided by the $315 median rate implies roughly 30 billable hours. That rounds to the same 30 hours as the peer median, so on workload Utah is indistinguishable from the middle of the table at this precision.
Utah records a 7.2x gap between its simple and complex divorce medians. Decomposed, that is 4.2x more billed time and 1.66x a higher rate: 14 hours at $235 becomes 59 hours at $390.
From $5,250 to $15,800 the moderate band is $10,550 wide, close to the $9,550 peer median. End to end that is 33 hours at $315.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $2,111 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $1,908 a month across the 6-18 months recorded for a complex one.
Ranked by implied hours rather than money, Utah is 21st of 51 at 30 hours, where cost and rate also put it.
31% up the $5,250–$15,800 band sits the $8,550 table midpoint, buying 27 hours at $315 against the 30 the local divorce median implies — 3 hours apart.
| Measure | Utah | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $9,500 | 19th |
| Hourly median | $315 | 21st |
| Implied hours | 30 | 21st |
| Simple median | $3,200 | 19th |
| Complex median | $22,900 | 19th |
$315 an hour puts Utah between Texas ($315) and Pennsylvania ($310) — not the divorce cost pairing.
Texas records the same $315: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$9,500 buys 40 hours at $235, 30 at $315, 24 at $390.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Oregon | $320 |
| 20 | Texas | $315 |
| 21 | Utah | $315 |
| 22 | Pennsylvania | $310 |
| 23 | Arizona | $305 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 19th at the simple tier, 19th at moderate, 19th at complex of 51 — so Utah keeps roughly the same relative position whether the divorce is straightforward or contested.
$3,200 is 19th of 51 on a straightforward divorce, under Minnesota ($3,200) and over Illinois ($3,150), $300 over the $2,900 tier midpoint.
$22,900 is 19th of 51 once contested, between District of Columbia ($23,100) and Maine ($22,850), $1,100 off the $21,800 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Utah: the simple tier reaches $5,300 where the moderate tier starts at $5,250, and the moderate tier reaches $15,800 where the complex tier starts at $15,600. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Utah | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,200 | 19th | $2,900 | 14 |
| moderate | $9,500 | 19th | $8,550 | 30 |
| complex | $22,900 | 19th | $21,800 | 59 |
$3,200 keeps Utah at 19th on straightforward matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $300 (10%) over the $2,900 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $235: 47% of the moderate tier's 30, over 1-3 months.
Minnesota ($3,200) and Illinois ($3,150) bracket it — a $50 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $3,200 here, against 5 at the moderate row.
$22,900 keeps Utah at 19th on contested matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $1,100 (5%) over the $21,800 tier midpoint.
59 implied hours at $390: 197% of the moderate tier's 30, over 6-18 months.
District of Columbia ($23,100) and Maine ($22,850) bracket it — a $250 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $22,900 here, against 5 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Michigan | $3,250 |
| 18 | Minnesota | $3,200 |
| 19 | Utah | $3,200 |
| 20 | Illinois | $3,150 |
| 21 | Maine | $3,150 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Nevada | $23,250 |
| 18 | District of Columbia | $23,100 |
| 19 | Utah | $22,900 |
| 20 | Maine | $22,850 |
| 21 | Florida | $22,800 |
$9,500 ranks a divorce 2nd of 8 in Utah, under Criminal Defense, over DUI / DWI. At 83% of Criminal Defense ($11,400).
The state does not rank uniformly. Utah is 11th of 51 for Criminal Defense but 28th for Bankruptcy, a 17-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 19th on divorce says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 18% above its own midpoint, while Bankruptcy runs 7% below its own midpoint — 25 percentage points apart. A single "Utah is expensive" or "Utah is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Utah is 5.4x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
3 of 8 matter types rank Utah in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 5 between; divorce is 19th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 64th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,950 | $11,400 | $30,800 | 36 | 11th | +12% | Washington |
| Divorce | $3,200 | $9,500 | $22,900 | 30 | 19th | +11% | Michigan |
| DUI / DWI | $3,300 | $7,750 | $18,600 | 27 | 23rd | +4% | Texas |
| Immigration | $2,050 | $5,600 | $10,700 | 20 | 14th | +18% | Massachusetts |
| Personal Injury | $1,650 | $4,950 | $16,700 | — | 18th | −5% | Pennsylvania |
| Bankruptcy | $1,700 | $3,350 | $5,450 | 13 | 28th | −7% | Maine |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,150 | $2,400 | $5,050 | 9 | 17th | +8% | Delaware |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,100 | $5,750 | 7 | 22nd | +1% | Nevada |
Simple tier. $3,200 ÷ $235 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,600 a month. The $6,300 step to the moderate tier is 16 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $9,500 to $22,900 is a $13,400 step, mostly work: 29 more hours at $315 is $9,135, while moving to $390 across 59 hours adds $4,425. Work carries 67%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Maine ($9,400) is $100 light, Michigan ($9,600) is $100 heavy — but the $8,550 table midpoint is out by $950, 10x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $5,250 is 17 hours at $315; $15,800 is 50. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate divorce, that is 4 to 11 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Utah's own recorded figures, $22,900 buys 7.2 matters at the $3,200 simple median — or, counted in time, 59 implied hours against 14, a factor of 4.2 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Utahcourt'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.