How much does it cost to file in court?

Beyond small claims, the filing fee depends on the procedure and the state: a divorce filing runs from $97 in South Dakota to $435 in California on the official schedules we read, a name change can cost $0 in a Connecticut probate court, and a federal bankruptcy filing is a flat $338 for Chapter 7 anywhere in the country. Pick your procedure and state below for the real numbers.

What you actually pay for

A court filing has up to four layers of cost. The filing fee is paid to the court when you submit the petition; it is the figure on every official schedule on this site. Service of process pays a sheriff, constable, or private process server to hand the papers to the other party — divorce and civil cases need it, name changes usually don't. Publication applies where the rules require notice in a newspaper — still the law for adult name changes in 20 states — and the newspaper sets that price, not the court. Finally, certified copies of the decree or order, which you will need for banks, schools, the DMV, and the Social Security office after a name change or divorce.

Small claims are the one procedure we don't cover here — they have their own fee tiers and limits, and their own site: see how this site and smallclaimscost.com divide the work.

Start with your state

Filing fees are set state by state — and in a dozen states, county by county — so the only number that matters is your state's. Full guides for the eight most-searched states, then the complete 50-state table.

Divorce & name change filing fees — all 50 states

Where a state sets fees county by county, the table says so and the state guide gives a verified county example rather than a made-up statewide number. Where we could not verify a figure from an official source, the guide says that too.

How these figures are sourced

Every fee on this site comes from an official source we opened and read during the October 2026 research pass: state court and judiciary fee schedules first, statutes second, federal fees from the U.S. Courts' own fee schedules. Each state guide names its sources. The full method — including how we handle county-set fees and figures we could not verify — is on the About page.