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

Pennsylvania is one of the county-set states in its purest form: there is no statewide divorce filing fee at all. Each county's prothonotary — in Allegheny County, the Department of Court Records — publishes its own schedule, and a one-count divorce complaint runs from under $100 in the smallest counties to nearly $400 in the most expensive.

Verified county examples

The Philadelphia and Montgomery figures come from those counties' published court fee schedules. The range reflects a comparison of sixteen county prothonotary schedules for a one-count divorce complaint — and "one-count" is doing real work in that sentence, because Pennsylvania prices divorce by the count, as the next section explains. A statewide average would be a made-up number, so this page does not publish one; the Pennsylvania court costs guide follows the same county-by-county approach for other case types.

The count system: how a Pennsylvania complaint grows

A Pennsylvania divorce complaint can plead several counts in one filing — dissolution itself, plus equitable distribution of property, custody, support, alimony, and counsel fees. Counties charge for the counts you add. On Allegheny County's published Family Division schedule, a custody count adds $173.50 and each additional count adds $46.25; the closing paperwork is priced too, with the praecipe to transmit the record — the filing that asks the court to enter the decree in a mutual-consent case — at $20 and a certified copy of the decree at $20. Two neighbours filing in the same county can therefore pay noticeably different totals: a bare one-count complaint is the floor, and every issue you ask the court to decide adds its line.

Grounds change the timeline, not the fee

Most Pennsylvania divorces proceed under 23 Pa.C.S. §3301(c), mutual consent, which requires both spouses' sworn consent after a 90-day wait, or §3301(d), which requires the parties to have lived apart for at least one year. The filing fee is the same under either ground — the court charges to open the case, not to evaluate the marriage. What the ground changes is how long the case stays open and how many intermediate filings it generates, each of which can carry its own county fee.

1. File the complaint in the Court of Common Pleas of your county and pay the prothonotary's fee for the counts pleaded.
2. Serve your spouse — by the sheriff, by certified mail where the rules allow, or by their written acceptance of service.
3. Observe the waiting period for your ground (90 days for mutual consent; one-year separation for §3301(d)).
4. File the closing paperwork for your county — in Allegheny County the praecipe to transmit is $20 — and order certified copies of the decree $20 in Allegheny County; see copy and certification fees nationally.

Can't afford the fee?

Pennsylvania filers who cannot pay petition to proceed in forma pauperis under Pa.R.C.P. 240; a granted petition waives the filing fees for that filer. The fee waiver guide explains how IFP standards work. Sheriff's service charges are separate from the prothonotary's schedule and are set by each county sheriff.

The national picture

Pennsylvania's spread — $93 to $398 for the same one-count complaint — is the widest county-to-county gap in the national data after Ohio's. It is the clearest illustration of why the national divorce guide refuses to print a single figure for the county-set states: the honest answer is your county's schedule, and this page's job is to show you what that schedule looks like when you find it.

Sources: Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas — Family Court fee schedule (divorce complaint $333.73) · Montgomery County Prothonotary fee schedule ($284.75) · Allegheny County Department of Court Records, Family Division schedule (custody count $173.50; additional count $46.25; praecipe to transmit $20; certified copy $20) · 16-county comparison of prothonotary schedules (range $93–$398) · 23 Pa.C.S. §3301; Pa.R.C.P. 240. Last verified: October 2026 — confirm current figures with your county prothonotary.