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 Washington, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a divorce in Washington costs on average $11,450, typically $6,350-$19,100 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $240 to $480 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 | $1,900 | $3,800 | $6,300 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $6,350 | $11,450 | $19,100 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $18,750 | $27,500 | $43,800 | 6-18 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$240 – $480/ hour
Median: $360/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 Washington. The recorded median total is $11,450, with reported quotes clustering between $6,350 and $19,100. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $700–$2,600, which leaves roughly $8,850–$10,750 of the Washington 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 $11,450, the median divorce cost in Washington runs 30% above the $8,798 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Washington carries 3 rows — simple, $1,900–$6,300 at $180–$360/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $6,350–$19,100 at $240–$480/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $18,750–$43,800 at $330–$600/hr over 6-18 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures put it in the top quarter of the table.
$11,450 is a median, not the middle of the band — $5,100 above the $6,350 floor, $7,650 under the $19,100 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Washington ranks 2nd of 51 tracked states for a divorce, inside the highest-cost quarter of the table. The gap to the $8,550 midpoint is $2,900 — 34% — and only 1 states record a higher median.
Rhode Island is the nearest state below at $11,400 — $50 away — while the next state up, Hawaii, is a wider $1,450 step at $12,900. Washington therefore sits at the top edge of a band rather than in the middle of one.
Only one other tracked state, Rhode Island, records a median within three percent of Washington's $11,450 — a pairing rather than a cluster.
Ranked by hourly rate instead of by total, Washington does not move: 2nd on both measures, at $360 an hour. Rate and total are telling the same story here.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Washington |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $12,900 | +$1,450 |
| 2 | Washington | $11,450 | — |
| 3 | Rhode Island | $11,400 | −$50 |
| 4 | Virginia | $11,050 | −$400 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | $10,700 | −$750 |
| 6 | Alaska | $10,650 | −$800 |
| 7 | California | $10,600 | −$850 |
| 8 | Maryland | $10,550 | −$900 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 8 below Washington against 0 above. $1,450 up or $50 down moves Washington a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 2nd position is propped up by a thin divorce field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Hawaii and adding $1,450 to the $11,450 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Rhode Island, Virginia, Massachusetts, Alaska, California: $850.
$1,450 short of Hawaii ($12,900), $5,400 clear of Alabama ($6,050).
The $11,450 median divided by the $360 median rate implies roughly 32 billable hours. The peer median is 30 hours, so 2 more hours of work sit behind the Washington figure than behind the typical state's.
The 7.2x step from the simple to the complex tier breaks down as 4.4x the hours against 1.67x the rate — 14 hours at $270 becomes 61 hours at $450. Hours dominate, but the rate contribution is large enough to notice.
In dollars the Washington moderate band is wide: $6,350 to $19,100, a $12,750 range, $3,200 wider than the peer-median band of $9,550. End to end that is 35 hours at $360.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $2,544 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $2,292 a month across the 6-18 months recorded for a complex one.
By implied hours Washington falls to 10th of 51 at 32 hours, 8 places below its 2nd on cost — the divorce total arriving on less recorded work.
17% up the $6,350–$19,100 band sits the $8,550 table midpoint, buying 24 hours at $360 against the 32 the local divorce median implies — 8 hours apart.
| Measure | Washington | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $11,450 | 2nd |
| Hourly median | $360 | 2nd |
| Implied hours | 32 | 10th |
| Simple median | $3,800 | 3rd |
| Complex median | $27,500 | 3rd |
$360 an hour puts Washington between Hawaii ($405) and New Jersey ($355) — not the divorce cost pairing.
No other tracked state records $360 as its median rate, so the figure identifies Washington on its own within this dataset.
$11,450 buys 42 hours at $270, 32 at $360, 25 at $450.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $405 |
| 2 | Washington | $360 |
| 3 | New Jersey | $355 |
| 4 | New York | $355 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 3rd at the simple tier, 2nd at moderate, 3rd at complex of 51 — so Washington keeps roughly the same relative position whether the divorce is straightforward or contested.
$3,800 is 3rd of 51 on a straightforward divorce, under New Hampshire ($3,800) and over Hawaii ($3,750), $900 over the $2,900 tier midpoint.
$27,500 is 3rd of 51 once contested, between Maryland ($27,650) and New Hampshire ($27,400), $5,700 off the $21,800 tier midpoint.
$50 separates the simple ceiling of $6,300 from the moderate floor of $6,350, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $18,750 upward. The expensive end of a routine divorce and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Washington.
| Tier | Washington | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $3,800 | 3rd | $2,900 | 14 |
| moderate | $11,450 | 2nd | $8,550 | 32 |
| complex | $27,500 | 3rd | $21,800 | 61 |
$3,800 drops Washington to 3rd of 51 on straightforward matters, 1 below its moderate position and $900 (31%) over the $2,900 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $270: 44% of the moderate tier's 32, over 1-3 months.
New Hampshire ($3,800) and Hawaii ($3,750) bracket it — a $50 window.
5 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $3,800, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
$27,500 drops Washington to 3rd of 51 on contested matters, 1 below its moderate position and $5,700 (26%) over the $21,800 tier midpoint.
61 implied hours at $450: 191% of the moderate tier's 32, over 6-18 months.
Maryland ($27,650) and New Hampshire ($27,400) bracket it — a $250 window.
5 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $27,500, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $3,800 |
| 2 | New Hampshire | $3,800 |
| 3 | Washington | $3,800 |
| 4 | Hawaii | $3,750 |
| 5 | Maryland | $3,750 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $30,200 |
| 2 | Maryland | $27,650 |
| 3 | Washington | $27,500 |
| 4 | New Hampshire | $27,400 |
| 5 | New Jersey | $27,350 |
Against the other matter types tracked in Washington, a divorce carries the largest median of the 8 at $11,450 — ahead of Criminal Defense, the next line down.
Across practice areas Washington ranges from 1st of 51 for DUI / DWI to 13th for Estate Planning / Probate — a 12-place spread, with its 2nd on divorce inside it.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Divorce runs 34% above its own midpoint, while Estate Planning / Probate runs 6% above its own midpoint — 28 percentage points apart. A single "Washington is expensive" or "Washington is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Washington is 5.2x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
Every one of the 7 matter types tracked for Washington places it in the upper third of its table, which is why the 2nd on divorce is not an outlier.
That places the divorce figure in the 98th percentile of the 51 states tracked here.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divorce | $3,800 | $11,450 | $27,500 | 32 | 2nd | +34% | Hawaii |
| Criminal Defense | $4,200 | $11,450 | $33,850 | 32 | 10th | +12% | Vermont |
| DUI / DWI | $4,300 | $9,800 | $19,100 | 30 | 1st | +32% | — |
| Immigration | $2,600 | $6,200 | $14,100 | 19 | 5th | +31% | Vermont |
| Personal Injury | $1,950 | $6,000 | $19,850 | — | — | +15% | — |
| Bankruptcy | $1,700 | $4,100 | $6,350 | 14 | 10th | +14% | Rhode Island |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,200 | $2,800 | $5,450 | 9 | 3rd | +26% | New York |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,200 | $7,400 | 7 | 13th | +6% | Texas |
Simple tier. $3,800 ÷ $270 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,900 a month. The $7,650 step to the moderate tier is 18 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $11,450 to $27,500 is a $16,050 step, mostly work: 29 more hours at $360 is $10,440, while moving to $450 across 61 hours adds $5,490. Work carries 66%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Rhode Island ($11,400) lands $50 under Washington; from Hawaii ($12,900), $1,450 over; from the $8,550 table midpoint, $2,900 out.
Both ends, in time. $6,350 is 18 hours at $360; $19,100 is 53. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate divorce, that is 4 to 12 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Washington's own recorded figures, $27,500 buys 7.2 matters at the $3,800 simple median — or, counted in time, 61 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 Washingtoncourt'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.