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How much does it cost to file for divorce in Indiana?

Filing a Verified Petition for Dissolution of Marriage in Indiana costs $157 in most counties and $177 in Marion County (Indianapolis) and Clark County. The total is assembled in the Indiana Code — a $100 civil costs fee plus a stack of smaller statewide charges — and a handful of counties add a local supplement that produces the $177 figure. Sheriff service, where you use it, adds a flat $28.

Indiana divorce fees at a glance

Indiana is one of the few states where the anatomy of the fee is fully visible in statute. Ind. Code §33-37-4-4 sets the civil costs fee at $100 for a party filing a civil action, and chapter 33-37-5 layers on the document storage, automated record keeping, public defense administration, judicial salaries, court administration and other statewide fees that bring the standard county total to $157. Counties whose clerks publish $177 — Marion and Clark are the examples the Judicial Branch's self-service materials and county clerk listings consistently name — include a county supplement on top of the same stack. Either way, Indiana sits at the inexpensive end of the national range on the divorce filing costs hub; the broader state picture is on the Indiana court costs guide.

Residency, grounds and the 60-day wait

Indiana calls divorce dissolution, and it is effectively no-fault: under Ind. Code §31-15-2-3 a decree may rest on the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, and the older grounds (a felony conviction after the marriage, impotence existing at the marriage, incurable insanity for at least two years) are rarely pleaded. Residency is set by §31-15-2-6: at least one spouse must have lived in Indiana for the six months immediately before filing, and in the filing county for the three months immediately before filing — military personnel stationed in Indiana for those periods qualify on the same terms. You file in the Circuit or Superior Court of a county that meets the rule. Section 31-15-2-10 then imposes a hard floor on timing: a final hearing may not be held until 60 days after the petition is filed, and that waiting period cannot be waived, so the fastest possible Indiana dissolution is a two-month case even where everything is agreed and signed on day one.

How the case runs

1. Complete the Verified Petition for Dissolution using the Indiana Judicial Branch Self-Service Legal Center packet that matches your case (with or without children, agreed or contested)
2. File with the clerk of the Circuit or Superior Court — in person, by mail or through Indiana's statewide e-filing system — and pay the filing fee $157 in most counties $177 in Marion County
3. Serve your spouse: by sheriff for the statutory fee $28 per case, by certified mail where the county includes it, or by your spouse's signed acceptance of service
4. Exchange the verified financial disclosures the dissolution forms require, and file a Child Support Obligation Worksheet if you have children
5. After the 60-day period runs, submit the signed settlement agreement and proposed decree (agreed cases) or attend the final hearing, then obtain certified copies of the decree

What divorce really costs beyond the clerk

The $157 or $177 is the whole clerk-side entry price in most cases, which makes Indiana unusually predictable. What it does not include: private process service if you do not use the sheriff or certified mail (market-priced, and this page does not estimate it), mediation — which many Indiana courts order in contested custody or parenting-time disputes and which is priced by the mediator — parenting education programmes where a local court requires them (provider-priced), and attorney fees, which in a contested case dwarf every clerk charge combined. Post-decree work also has its own fees: motions filed later in the case are charged under the same chapter 33-37 fee structure, so budget for a further filing fee before assuming a modification is free. Compare the county-built fees nearby in Ohio divorce costs and Michigan divorce costs.

Can't afford the fee?

Indiana provides a Verified Motion for Fee Waiver, filed with the petition, under Ind. Code §33-37-3-2. The court examines the filer's household income and circumstances; the Judicial Branch's waiver standard treats a filer whose income falls at or below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines as presumptively unable to pay. A granted waiver covers the filing fee — it does not pay for a private process server or a mediator, so ask the clerk about sheriff service, which the waiver framework is designed to work with. The general mechanics are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: Ind. Code §33-37-4-4 (civil costs fee $100) and ch. 33-37-5 (additional statewide fees; sheriff service of process fee $28 under §33-37-5-15; $10 additional-defendant service fee under §33-37-5-28) · Indiana Judicial Branch, Self-Service Legal Center dissolution guidance and county clerk fee listings (standard total $157; Marion and Clark counties $177; Delaware, Vanderburgh and St. Joseph counties listed at $177) · Ind. Code §§31-15-2-3 (grounds), 31-15-2-6 (6-month state / 3-month county residency), 31-15-2-10 (60-day waiting period), 33-37-3-2 (fee waiver). Last verified: October 2026 — confirm current figures with your county clerk.