Filing for divorce in Maricopa County costs $376 for the petition and $287 for the response — before anyone pays a professional a dime. From there, the total depends almost entirely on who prepares your documents. An agreed divorce can be completed for well under a thousand dollars in flat-fee document preparation, and even a contested case can be handled without hourly attorney billing if you are representing yourself. Here are the real 2026 numbers, verified against the Maricopa County Clerk of the Superior Court's current fee schedule.

Arizona Divorce Filing Fees in 2026

The court's own charges are flat fees, identical whether or not you have children. These are the current Maricopa County figures, verified on the Clerk of the Superior Court's official fee schedule:

Two details most people miss. First, if you and your spouse have already agreed on everything, Arizona's Summary Consent Decree process lets you file one joint case for $331.50 total — roughly half of what a petition plus response costs. Second, filing fees vary by county; if you are filing outside Maricopa County, check the statewide schedule on azcourts.gov. Filers who cannot afford the fee can apply for a deferral or waiver through the Clerk's fee deferral program.

Attorney vs. Document Preparer vs. DIY: The Real Cost Difference

Court fees are the smallest piece of most divorce budgets — professional help is where the totals diverge. Arizona does not require either spouse to hire an attorney, and thousands of Arizona divorces are completed every year without one. The three paths compare like this:

The middle path exists because the Arizona Supreme Court certifies nonlawyer legal document preparers under ACJA § 7-208 specifically so families can get professionally prepared court documents without attorney pricing. Dynasty Legal Documents publishes its divorce package pricing in full: $475 for a divorce without children (no decree), $950 with the complete decree package, $600 for a divorce with children (no decree), and $1,200 for a divorce with children including the parenting plan, child support worksheet, spousal maintenance worksheet, and consent or default decree. The Summary Consent Decree packages run $950 (without children) and $1,200 (with children), and legal separation is priced identically to divorce. Put together, a fully agreed divorce with children — Dynasty's $1,200 package plus the court's $331.50 Summary Consent Decree fee — comes to about $1,531.50 all-in, versus $2,500–$5,000+ per spouse for a comparable attorney-handled uncontested case.

Contested Divorce in Arizona: You Can Still Represent Yourself

A contested divorce does not force you into hourly attorney billing. Arizona allows you to represent yourself at every stage of a family law case, and a Certified Legal Document Preparer can prepare every litigation document you file along the way. Melissa Moy has worked contested Arizona family law matters since 2007, and Dynasty Legal Documents regularly prepares documents for clients handling their own contested cases. That includes:

• Responses and counter-filings — responses to a petition for dissolution, legal separation, or petition to establish.
• Discovery and disclosure — uniform and non-uniform interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for admissions, disclosure statements, and the Affidavit of Financial Information.
• Court conference and hearing documents — Resolution Management Conference statements, pretrial statements, and emergency or non-emergency temporary orders.
• Trial preparation — the heavy document lifting when your case is headed to a hearing or trial.

These contested-case documents are quoted individually rather than sold as a fixed package, because the volume of work depends on what the other side files and how the case develops. Call 602.892.2218 for a quote on your specific documents — there is no hourly meter and no retainer.

What Makes an Arizona Divorce Cost More?

Disagreement is the cost driver — every disputed issue adds documents, hearings, and time. The factors that move the number most:

• Contested vs. agreed. An agreed divorce is a fixed set of paperwork; a contested one adds responses, discovery, disclosure, and hearing documents as the case unfolds. With hourly attorney billing this is where costs multiply; with flat-rate document preparation you pay per document instead.
• Minor children. A parenting plan and child support order (calculated under the Arizona Child Support Guidelines) add required documents.
• Spousal maintenance. For cases filed on or after September 24, 2022, Arizona's Spousal Maintenance Guidelines govern amount and duration.
• Community property. Arizona is a community property state; a house, retirement accounts, or a business make the property spreadsheet longer even in agreed cases.
• Service of process. A private process server charges a per-service fee; if your spouse simply signs an Acceptance of Service, that cost disappears.

The 60-Day Waiting Period and Your Timeline

No Arizona divorce can be finalized sooner than 60 days after the respondent is served or accepts service — the court is barred from entering a decree before then under A.R.S. § 25-329, and the waiting period cannot be shortened or waived. One spouse must also have lived in Arizona for at least 90 days before filing. In practice, an agreed divorce with complete, correctly prepared paperwork is typically finalized in roughly 90 to 120 days from filing, while contested cases often run six to eighteen months depending on the court's calendar and the issues in dispute.

Frequently Asked Questions About Arizona Divorce Costs