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How much does it cost to file for custody in North Dakota?

Filing for custody in North Dakota costs $160 in every county — the same fee as filing for divorce. North Dakota calls custody parenting responsibility: a case is opened by filing a summons and complaint or petition in district court, and N.D.C.C. §27-05.2-03 prices that filing at $160, with the North Dakota Court System's fee list naming parenting responsibility expressly. The other parent's answer costs $100, and a later motion to change residential responsibility or parenting time costs another $160.

North Dakota custody fees at a glance

Every figure in the table comes from the North Dakota Court System's published fee information, which states §27-05.2-03's schedule in plain language: filing a summons and complaint (or summons and petition) in district court — “including (but not limited to) divorce, separation, parenting responsibility, adoption, paternity, guardianship, conservatorship, informal and formal probate, and eviction” — is $160; answering is $100; filing a motion to modify an order for spousal support, property division, child support, parental rights and responsibilities, residential responsibility (custody) or parenting time (visitation) is $160; and answering that motion is $100. The last row matters for many parents: custody raised inside a divorce that is already open does not start a second case or a second $160 fee, because the divorce filing already opened the file in which parenting is decided. The national comparison is on the child custody filing costs hub and the wider state picture on the North Dakota court costs guide.

The words North Dakota uses: residential responsibility and parenting time

North Dakota reorganised its custody vocabulary in chapter 14-09 of the Century Code. What other states call legal and physical custody is decided as parental rights and responsibilities, split into residential responsibility — where the child primarily lives — and parenting time — the schedule each parent spends with the child. Decisions are governed by the best interests of the child, and §14-09-06.2 lists the factors the court must weigh, including the child's relationship with each parent, each parent's ability to provide care, stability of the home environment, the child's adjustment, and any history of domestic violence, which the statute treats with particular seriousness. A standalone custody case is most common for unmarried parents — often alongside a paternity determination, which the same $160 filing covers as a listed case type — and for parents whose parenting order needs to be created in North Dakota for the first time rather than modified from an existing one.

Modifying an existing order costs the same as starting one

The figure that catches North Dakota parents out is the modification fee: at $160, moving to modify an order costs exactly as much as opening the original case, and the other parent's answer to the motion costs $100. That pricing is deliberate in the statute's structure — §27-05.2-03 treats a modification motion as a fresh contested filing. Parents who agree on a change can avoid the contested track: a stipulated amendment submitted jointly is handled as an agreed filing rather than a litigated motion, and the Legal Self Help Center publishes the forms for both routes. Note also what is not separately priced: the parenting plan the court requires, and the child support calculation under the North Dakota Child Support Guidelines, are documents filed inside the case, not new fee events. Where parents cannot agree, the court can refer parenting time disputes to mediation under the court's family mediation programme before a hearing.

How the case runs

1. Decide whether custody belongs inside an open divorce (no new fee) or needs its own case, and prepare the summons and complaint or petition for parenting responsibility
2. File with the district court clerk in the county where the child lives, paying the filing fee $160
3. Serve the other parent; their formal answer costs $100
4. Exchange information, attempt mediation of parenting time disputes where the court orders or the parents choose it, and present evidence under the §14-09-06.2 best-interests factors
5. The court enters a parenting order setting residential responsibility, parenting time and child support; changing it later starts with a modification motion $160

What custody really costs beyond the clerk

The statute prices filings, not the rest of the case. Service of the summons is charged by the sheriff or process server and is not set in §27-05.2-03, so this page does not price it. A parenting investigation or evaluation, where the court orders one, is priced under the appointment and is not a clerk's fee. Mediation is priced by the programme providing it. Attorney fees are market-priced and are normally the largest cost in a contested North Dakota custody case. The clerk-side figures you can predict exactly are the four in the table: $160 to file, $100 to answer, $160 to move to modify and $100 to answer the motion — and $0 in new case fees when custody is decided inside an existing divorce, as explained on the North Dakota divorce costs page. Compare other states in Minnesota divorce costs and on the custody hub.

Can't afford the fee?

The North Dakota Court System's Legal Self Help Center publishes filing fee waiver forms: a written request with financial forms asking the district court to waive the fee, available for custody filings on the same terms as other civil cases. The Court System states that a filer may be eligible if they do not make much money or have a lot of expenses, and a granted waiver means the $160 does not have to be paid. File the request with the complaint or petition rather than after it, because the clerk cannot complete the filing until the fee question is resolved. The general mechanics are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: North Dakota Court System, Legal Self Help Center — Filing Fee Waiver page and North Dakota Court Fee Schedule, quoting N.D.C.C. §27-05.2-03 (summons and complaint/petition including parenting responsibility $160; answer $100; motion to modify an order for parental rights and responsibilities, residential responsibility or parenting time $160; answer to motion $100) (ndcourts.gov) · N.D.C.C. ch. 14-09 and §14-09-06.2 (best-interests factors). Last verified: October 2026 — confirm current figures with the district court clerk.