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

Massachusetts charges $200 plus a $15 surcharge to file for divorce in the Probate and Family Court. A joint no-fault petition (Section 1A) costs $215 total; a complaint filed by one spouse (Section 1B or a fault complaint) costs $220 once the $5 summons is added. The fee is identical in every county.

Massachusetts divorce fees at a glance

The figures are the Commonwealth's own, published on Mass.gov's step-by-step divorce guides and in the Probate and Family Court's fee schedule: the 1B guide lists the $200 filing fee, the $15 surcharge and a $5 summons charge, and the 1A guide lists the same $200 and $15 with no summons, because a joint petition has no defendant to summon. Payment is by bank check or money order payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, cash, or credit card, in person, by mail or through eFileMA. There is no county variation to research — Suffolk County and Berkshire County charge the same $215/$220 — which makes Massachusetts one of the simplest filing-fee pages in the country. The wider comparison lives on the divorce filing costs hub and the Massachusetts court costs guide; the nearest neighbours are New York divorce costs and New Jersey divorce costs.

1A versus 1B — the choice that sets the timeline

Massachusetts divorce runs on two no-fault tracks under G.L. c. 208. A Section 1A divorce is joint and uncontested: both spouses sign the petition, file a separation agreement that resolves everything, and swear the marriage is irretrievably broken. After the hearing the court enters a judgment nisi, which becomes absolute automatically — 30 days for the nisi plus 90 days to finality, roughly 120 days after judgment. A Section 1B divorce is filed by one spouse; the court generally cannot hold the hearing until at least six months after filing, and the judgment then sits nisi for a further 90 days before becoming absolute. During the nisi period you are still legally married — remarriage, insurance changes and some beneficiary updates must wait for the absolute date, a trap the court's own guidance flags. Fault grounds under §1 (adultery, cruelty, desertion and others) share the 1B fee and summons structure. Residency: if the cause of divorce occurred in Massachusetts and a spouse still lives here, there is no durational requirement; otherwise the plaintiff must have lived in the Commonwealth for one year (§5).

How the case runs

1. Choose the track: joint 1A petition with a signed separation agreement, or a 1B/fault complaint; gather the R-408 statistical form and, with children, the custody disclosure affidavit and child support guidelines worksheet (CJD 304)
2. File in the Probate and Family Court for the county where you and your spouse last lived together if either still lives there, otherwise where either lives now $215 (1A) or $220 (1B)
3. For a 1B case, have the summons and complaint served on your spouse by a sheriff or constable — the officer's charge is separate from the $5 summons fee
4. File financial statements (and the parents' education programme certificate where minor children are involved), then attend the hearing
5. Judgment nisi enters; the divorce becomes absolute after the nisi period — 30 + 90 days on the 1A track — and certified copies of the judgment can then be ordered

What divorce really costs beyond the clerk

The two costs filers most often forget are service and time. Service of the 1B summons by a constable or sheriff is charged by the officer and is not in the court's fee table, so this page does not quote it; the court's $5 is only the summons document itself. Cases with minor children generally require both parents to complete the court-approved co-parenting education programme (currently delivered as Two Families Now), priced by the programme, not the court. The six-month minimum runway on a 1B case also has a real cost even without lawyers: temporary orders on custody, support or use of the home may need a motion (CJD 400) and a hearing while the case waits. Attorney fees remain the largest variable in any contested Massachusetts divorce and are market-priced; no official schedule publishes them, and none is estimated here. What is fixed and knowable is the entry price — $215 or $220, statewide, published by the court itself.

Can't afford the fee?

Massachusetts calls it indigency. Filing an Affidavit of Indigency under G.L. c. 261, §§27A–27G asks the court to waive or state-pay normal filing fees and charges for a filer whose income meets the statutory standard (generally at or below 125% of the federal poverty line, or receipt of specified means-tested benefits, or a showing that payment would cause substantial hardship). Mass.gov publishes the indigency instructions alongside the divorce guides. See also the fee waiver guide.

Sources: Mass.gov — "Get a no-fault 1A divorce" and "Get a no-fault 1B divorce" (filing fee $200; surcharge $15; summons $5 on the 1B track) · Massachusetts Probate and Family Court filing fees · G.L. c. 208, §§1, 1A, 1B, 5 (grounds, joint petition, residency) and nisi periods · G.L. c. 261, §§27A–27G (indigency). Last verified: October 2026 — confirm current figures with the Probate and Family Court in your county.