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

Filing a Complaint for Absolute Divorce in Maryland circuit court costs $165 for a self-represented filer — an $80 filing fee, a $55 Maryland Legal Services Corporation surcharge and a $30 Records Improvement Fund charge. The fee is set in the Maryland Judiciary's statewide clerk fee summary, so it does not change from county to county.

Maryland divorce fees at a glance

The breakdown matters because Maryland is one of the few states whose judiciary publishes it: the Maryland Courts' Summary of Charges, Costs and Fees of the Clerks of the Circuit Court itemises the standard $165 new-case charge for unrepresented filers — divorce complaints, custody, adoption and name changes all enter at the same price — and county clerk schedules applying the same summary (Harford County's published civil fees are one example) list $185 where the case is filed by an attorney. Either way the number is fixed statewide; unlike neighbouring Virginia, there is no county-by-county fee table to research. Your spouse's answer does not carry the new-case charge, but later contested filings — and the sheriff's or a private process server's charge for delivering the writ of summons — sit outside this table. The full state comparison is on the divorce filing costs hub and the Maryland court costs guide.

The 2023 grounds rewrite — why Maryland divorces start faster now

Effective October 1, 2023, Maryland abolished limited divorce and rewrote the grounds for absolute divorce (Md. Code, Family Law §7-101.1). There are now three: mutual consent, where both spouses sign a settlement agreement resolving alimony, property and — fully, including a parenting plan and child support worksheets — everything about the children, and the divorce can be granted without any separation period; six-month separation, where the spouses have lived apart for six months (including under the same roof, if they pursue separate lives); and irreconcilable differences. Residency under §7-101: if the grounds occurred in Maryland, either spouse living here now is enough; if the grounds occurred elsewhere, one spouse must have lived in Maryland for six months before filing. The practical effect on cost is real — a mutual-consent case with a complete agreement can move from filing to final hearing in weeks, which compresses every other expense in the case, while a contested case still runs through discovery, mediation and possibly trial on the ordinary circuit court timetable.

How the case runs

1. Complete the Complaint for Absolute Divorce (form CC-DR-020), the Civil Domestic Case Information Report (CC-DCM-001) and the financial statement and settlement paperwork your ground requires, and file in the circuit court for the county where either spouse lives $165 self-represented
2. The clerk issues a Writ of Summons, valid 60 days; serve your spouse by sheriff, private process server, or certified mail with restricted delivery as the Maryland Rules allow
3. Your spouse answers — 30 days if served in Maryland, 60 days in another state, 90 days outside the United States
4. If no answer arrives, request an Order of Default and proceed to an uncontested hearing; if the case is contested, expect scheduling, discovery and mediation before trial
5. Attend the final hearing (often brief in mutual-consent cases) and order certified copies of the Judgment of Absolute Divorce for your records

What divorce really costs beyond the clerk

Service is the first extra: the sheriff's service charge is set by the county sheriff's own schedule and private process servers charge market rates, neither of which appears in the Judiciary's clerk fee summary, so this page quotes neither. Cases with children add the parenting seminar many circuits require, priced by the provider. Contested cases add the ordinary machinery of circuit court litigation — depositions, custody evaluations, mediation sessions — all provider-priced. Attorney fees are the largest cost in any contested Maryland divorce and are not published in any official schedule; they are deliberately not estimated here. The knowable floor is the clerk's table: $165 to open the case as a self-represented filer, $185 through counsel, with everything after that driven by how much of the case the two of you can agree on. Compare Virginia divorce costs and Pennsylvania divorce costs for the two neighbouring systems.

Can't afford the fee?

Maryland Rule 1-325 lets a filer file a Request for Waiver of Prepaid Costs with an affidavit of income and expenses; the court waives the prepaid clerk's charges for filers who meet the indigency standard, and legal-services organisations file with their own certifications. File the request with the complaint — the clerk cannot simply discount the $165 at the counter. The general mechanics are in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: Maryland Courts — Summary of Charges, Costs and Fees of the Clerks of the Circuit Court (new civil case, self-represented: $80 filing fee + $55 Maryland Legal Services Corporation surcharge + $30 Records Improvement Fund = $165; attorney-filed $185 per county clerk schedules applying the summary, e.g. Harford County Civil Fees) · Md. Code, Family Law §§7-101 (residency), 7-101.1 (grounds, eff. Oct 1, 2023) · Maryland Rule 1-325 (waiver of prepaid costs) · Maryland Judiciary divorce forms CC-DR-020, CC-DCM-001. Last verified: October 2026 — confirm current figures with your circuit court clerk.