Breaking Down the Cost to File for Divorce in Denver
Uncontested Divorce Mediation
Posted August 11, 2021
The average Colorado divorce costs about $15,000 in a range that dips as low as $4,000. If you came for a quick answer, this is where your reasonable costs lie. For the most part, the cost of your divorce reflects the amount of time required to hash it out with experts. Attorney time for both spouses, court time, court filing fees, sheriff serving fees, and mandatory classes, and peripheral services all wrap up into your final cost.
Most divorcing spouses are looking to start a new chapter, not lose a well of resources on ending the marriage. The best strategy is to find the lowest price for the work-hours needed on your divorce.
Elements of Divorce Cost
- Court fees
- Filing and response fees
- Transcript fees
- Attorney consult and drafting fees.
- Mandatory class fees
- Sheriff serving fee
Peripheral Costs of Divorce
- Childcare
- Household Separation
- Travel
- Financial Division
Court Fees
- Filing Divorce Papers ~ $230 + $116
- The cost of filing completed divorce documents with the court is at (or near) $350. This cost may vary with minor policy changes but should be calculated at around this amount.
- The cost of responding legally to filed divorce documents is at or near $116.
- Transcript Fees ~ $50
- To be given printed transcripts of your divorce proceedings, you will need to pay at or around $50 for the copy. This may be necessary each time you appear in court to conduct your divorce.
- Courtroom Divorce ~ $20,000
- Taking the time of court officials and booking a courtroom for your divorce is accompanied by fees. There may be filing fees, courtroom fees, and transcript fees among others to worry about if you pursue a courtroom divorce. The average cost of a court divorce that goes to trial is closer to $20 thousand.
Divorce Legal Services
Divorce documents should be prepared by a pro, usually an attorney who handles divorce cases. To do this, they need to understand your assets, investments, children, preferences, and disagreements, then draw up fair and thoughtful conditions in legally binding terms. This takes some amount of dedicated time and expertise, which is why most spouses invest in divorce attorneys or Denver divorce mediation services.
Divorce Attorney Hours – $250-$350 /hr/spouse ~ $4,000 – $13,000 average
In an adversarial divorce, both spouses hire a lawyer who requires an average of $250 to $350 an hour, per spouse. This means all or most legal costs are doubled, and both lawyers are present at negotiations until the final papers are drawn. Lawyer fees are the primary reason why divorce costs tend to inflate over time. The more time you need to consult, conflict, and negotiate, the more costly your divorce will be.
Divorce Mediation ~ $1,200 – $3,000 /spouse
Denver divorce mediation is a different approach to divorce that accomplishes the same goal – a complete and balanced divorce document. In divorce mediation, you and your spouse share a legal professional who listens to your case and finds the best terms for all involved parties.
Denver divorce mediation is ideal for spouses who know what they want and are seeking a simple divorce. You can quickly reach agreeable terms on your agreements and the mediator will help you navigate conflicts to the most practical solutions. Because mediation is streamlined, the cost for a mediated divorce is also reliably lower than an adversarial divorce conducted with two lawyers and/or courtroom time.
Mandatory Classes ~$25 – $100
Parents who file for divorce are required by the state of Colorado to take a co-parenting class This is an online or in-person class that guides parents through considering their children’s needs during a divorce. Both parents will need to pay $25 or more each to sign up for and attend the class so their divorce can be processed.
In addition, certain conflicts and poor behavior in the court may lead to additional mandatory classes or services. It is not uncommon for parents to be assigned parenting, anger management, and job development classes. Courts may also assign alcohol and drug counseling if it is deemed necessary to complete a safe divorce with child custody, and the cost may fall on you.
Sheriff Intervention ~ $50 – $70
If you need to serve your spouse with divorce papers through the Denver county sheriff’s office, there will be an additional fee of $50-$70 or near for their time. Fortunately, most divorces do not require a sheriff serving and there is no requirement to pay the fee. You can deliver the divorce papers yourself or ask someone else to do it for you without the help of the sheriffs’ office.
Split Simple Prices
Here at Split Simple, we specialize in divorce mediation and streamlining the cost of divorce for Denver spouses. We have done our best to wrap up the predictable costs like document preparation fees and final review along with regularized 2-hour mediation sessions so that you can scale the mediation process to the needs of your divorce. We’ve gagued pricing to ensure that your divorce costs less than it would in the adversarial process. By streamlinging the process, we can keep prices in an approachable range between $2,400 for simple divorces to $4,500 for the most complex divorces to mediate.
- Simple Divorce Mediation
- If you and your spouse are separating agreeably and only need some legal guidance on terms, we can help you get the job done with one 2-hour session and a final document review. In between, we’ll handle everything for $2,400 to $2,700.
- Standard Divorce Mediation
- For spouses with a few conflicts to settle and more complex assets like divorce and imbalanced income, you can approach the middle tier between $3,300 and $3,700.
- Complex Divorce Mediation
- For complex and high-value estates or divorces with significant areas of disagreement, consider our most involved their of divorce mediation between $4,100 and $4,500.
Contact Denver Divorce Mediators Today
Most importantly, you can trust that our mediation goal is to reach the most agreeable and forward-thinking divorce terms in the most efficient amount of time. Your time is valuable to us, and so is your divorce budget. Safe your saved funds for rebuilding separate households and rebuilding your individual lives, Contact Split Simple today so we can help you minimize the time and cost of Denver divorce mediation legal services.
Split Simple
1624 Market Street #202
Denver, CO 80202
720-501-4600