Divorce Costs

Memphis Divorce Law Fees

Their are two types of divorces. A Contested Divorce and an Uncontested Divorce.

You Pick Your Fee!

We charge flat fees for Uncontested Memphis, Tennessee and Mississippi divorces so you don’t receive any surprise bills in the mail, and we have an open door policy when it comes to asking questions. We want you to understand your Memphis divorce and more importantly, feel comfortable with the planning you’re doing for it.

We offer a flat fee for all uncontested divorces.

Our Memphis Uncontested Divorce Fees:

$499 for Uncontested Irreconcilable Differences (no fault) Divorces where there are no children.

$999 for Uncontested Irreconcilable Differences (no fault) Divorces when there ARE minor children in the marriage.

What value do you receive? First of all, unlike many other law offices you will actually speak with an attorney. With other Memphis divorce law firms you may never meet or speak with the attorney who is representing you in an uncontested divorce until your hearing date.

Each and every one of our clients will have a face to face (or phone meeting if they desire) consultation with their attorney. You will not be pawned off and treated like a number. We are honored to serve you and we respect that you want to be heard. You will have the opportunity to meet and question your attorney face to face to answer all questions that you may have!

These fees include ONE office visit and court appearance. Additional fees apply if more than one office visit or court appearance is needed. Additional court appearances cost $300 per appearance if requested and additional offices meetings are $250 if requested. All fees must be paid in advance.

An uncontested divorce is for couples who have ALL issues settled and agreed upon. You will meet with your attorney to answer any questions you might have. Before this initial meeting we will send you a packet to complete which includes vital information and a worksheet to resolve all important issues. You must complete the packet and submit it to us along with your check in full in order for us to proceed with your uncontested divorce. We will put the documentation into proper form and then will file it with the Court and set a hearing date . The spouse that filed the request will have to appear in Court. The Judge will then approve the Marital Dissolution Agreement and sign the Final Decree of Divorce which we prepare.

Court FEES:

In addition to our legal fees you will be responsible for the court filing fees. The court fees are as follows:

In Memphis Courts:

For a divorce W/O children the filing fee is : $301.50

For a divorce WITH children the filing fee is: $376.50

Counter Complaint filing fee is $100.00

Child Support Modification filing fee is $110.00

In Desoto County, Mississippi Courts:

Filing fee for divorce is $52.00

Filing fee for the answer to divorce complaint is $10.00

Custody Modification filing fee is $97.00

Child Support Modification filing fee is $97.00

Memphis and North Mississippi Contested Divorce FEES:

If we determine that your Memphis divorce is a case that we can take (i.e. if it is a good fit for you and for our firm), then we set an initial retainer fee and charge an hourly rate.

For contested divorces the hourly fees for our attorneys start at $200 per hour. The initial retainer balance that we require to start your Memphis divorce action is $5,000.00.

In a contested divorce it is impossible to determine beforehand the amount of work that will be required in handling the case. Many different issues arise in a contested divorce. Because of this there is no way to know what the cost will eventually be.

The initial legal stages of a contested divorce includes a lot of research and preparation that must be made. This is called discovery. If there isn’t a lot of discovery needed and if the case quickly settles in court then legal fees will be lower. However, if there is a big difference in opinion between the spouses and a lot of discovery is needed then the fees will likely be much higher.

Here’s how a typical contested Memphis divorce action is handled in regard to fees.

We charge an initial retainer fee of $5,000 for a contested divorce. We then bill you for each hour (in tenths of an hour) spent working on your case at either $200 or $250 per hour, depending upon your attorney, plus administrative costs. This would be drawn down off of the initial retainer.
You are responsible for all fees associated with your divorce, including, but not limited to subpoenas, filing fees, court reporters, investigators, deposition costs and etc.

There are three phases to the litigation in a Memphis divorce:

the initiation phase
the discovery phase
and the trial preparation phase.

Each stage includes a different amount of work that is needed to be completed before moving on to the next stage. If we decide to take your case we will give you materials that map out the chronology of a typical Memphis divorce case and what we do in each stage along the way (including the value-added services that we provide that other firms in our area do not).

During the Initiation phase we do the following work:

Filing of the divorce complaint
Filing discovery requests
And preparing a Settlement Agreement (if we have sufficient information to do so).

If we are not able to settle the case in the initiation phase, then, 60 days from the date we file the complaint, we move into the discovery phase. During the discovery phase we have interrogatories and discovery settings.

Attempts to reach an amicable settlement between the divorcing couple are made during all phases. If a settlement cannot be reached then we enter the trial phase.

We almost always recommend that each party try to settle before reaching trial. Going through a full divorce trial can be emotionally and financially draining. And often the end result is the same that could have been achieved much earlier by reaching a settlement, and at much lower costs. However, we do understand that settlements are not always able to be reached and are fully prepared to take your case to trial.