How Much Does a Divorce Cost?
A divorce legally ends your marriage, but it doesn't finalise your separation.
Your divorce application is separate from your property settlement, parenting arrangements, and any spousal maintenance matters. While obtaining a divorce itself is relatively inexpensive, resolving these other issues is a separate legal process.
Navigating divorce and separation in Australia can be costly and there are important considerations across financial & property settlement, parenting plans, divorce application and negotiation. At Simple Separation, we offer couples a customised fixed-fee package.
Watch our founder, Christina Salvo explain our transparent pricing model in the video below.
What’s the average cost of a separation in Australia?
Divorce expenses can escalate significantly, with Australians typically encountering costs ranging from around $20,000 per individual for a standard separation to over $100,000 per individual if court proceedings become necessary.
Simple Separation presents a cost-effective alternative with our fixed-price plans, eliminating the uncertainty of a billable hours model and ensuring no financial surprises.
Take a Quiz to see if Simple Separation is right for you!
| Cost | Process | Ideal for: | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Fixed-fee packages range from Fixed-fee packages tailored to your circumstances, ranging from $2,900–$8k per person. Services may include mediation, divorce applications, property settlement, parenting arrangements, property transfers, and superannuation splits. All packages include legal services with no hidden surprise fees. | An end-to-end, fair, collaborative and efficient process with no waiting periods, so you can begin immediately. Designed for couples who have already reached agreement and want to formalise it, as well as those who need supported mediation to help them reach agreement. The process includes independent legal advice and professional legal drafting, ensuring your agreement is clear, enforceable, and built to last. | Best suited to everyday couples who are cooperative and genuinely willing to engage in a respectful separation process. Ideal for amicable, civil, low-conflict couples. Not suitable for high-conflict situations or couples with complex asset pools. |
| Do It Yourself (DIY) | Low cost and both parties need to take into account government charges, court filing fees, valuation feed, etc | Often stressful and high-risk due to a lack of impartial support, which can result in one-sided agreements and leave one party disadvantaged. There is an increased risk of court rejection, and the drafting process can be complex and confusing, potentially leading to additional stress or conflict. | Extremely basic asset pools. |
| Private Mediation Practice or Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) | $0–$20,000 each, depending on whether the service is government-funded or provided privately, and whether the process involves a barrister mediator and/or legally assisted mediation. | The process only covers mediation for parenting or property, not inclusive of legal support such as legal drafting. The process is for couples who are in dispute and need resolution. | Low Conflict to High Conflict Couples |
| Lawyers/Solictor negotiations | $15k - $50k each, billable hours model. Hard to contain fees and likely to give you nasty bill shock. | This process is inherently adversarial, with each party represented by separate law firms acting in opposition. As a result, matters can become unnecessarily prolonged, leading to drawn-out negotiations, increased costs, and added stress. | For couples who need a lot of legal support and have poor communication |
| Family Court | Approximately $80k+ each depending on the length of the trial, the barristers who will be representing each of you, and the cost of the solicitor briefing. | Long, intimidating, and stressful process with possible devastating financial and emotional consequences. Outcomes are at the discretion of the court. | High-conflict cases; which means this process is usually suitable for individuals with a high net worth and large and complex asset pools. |
What’s the cost of divorce in Australia?
The act of getting divorced itself is not necessarily expensive, however it’s worth remembering that the divorce application is separate from your divorce settlement, which involves property settlement, parenting arrangements, or maintenance application after your marriage ends.
So, whilst it’s a common first step for couples to try to figure out who pays for the divorce when a marriage ends, the cost of the divorce and separation in its entirety may be difficult to predict.
For every marriage that is dissolved, the circumstances will differ. In some cases, costs will apply to both members of the couple, and in other cases, costs will vary between each party, depending on the circumstances and separation path chosen.
Several factors influence the cost of a divorce, including whether you are married or in a de facto partnership, if you have children, the level of conflict, and the complexity of your financial situation. The level of conflict dictates the approach taken in a divorce, and this chosen pathway significantly impacts the overall costs.
Let’s look at some of the costs involved in a separation and divorce.
Divorce Application
According to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, the government court filing fee for an application for divorce costs $1,125. Those who qualify for a reduced concession fee, can expect to pay only $375—the minimum cost of any divorce. It is recommended that you commence seeking legal advice in relation to property settlement before you are divorced, due to the time limits imposed on property settlements.
Property Settlement
The first step is to identify your net property pool and complete financial disclosure. Your financial and non-financial contributions and future needs are captured to provide an overall view of your financial matter throughout the relationship and post separation. You will then be referred to independent family lawyers to gain advice on what you may be entitled to as your share of the property pool. Your property pool may be made up of savings, businesses, shares, property, vehicles, trust funds and superannuation. Mediation will then help you create proposals so you can both negotiate an agreement during mediation. Your agreement can then be drafted into a binding financial agreement or orders and certified by a lawyer to make your agreement binding and enforceable.
Parenting Arrangements
Agreeing on parenting arrangements enables you to define decision making responsibility, time children spend with each parent, holidays, special occasions, medical, education, travel etc. At the end of mediation you will be provided with a parenting plan detailing the agreed parenting arrangements. This parenting plan is not enforceable, so you can decide to have it converted to orders to make it legally binding.
Family Dispute Resolution
Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) helps couples reach a mutual agreement on important issues such as property division and parenting arrangements, without the cost, delay and stress of going to court.
For many couples, mediation is a faster and more affordable pathway, with services typically starting from around $2,800 per person for either property or parenting matters. This includes independent legal advice and legal writing required to formalise your agreement. Final pricing depends on the size of your property pool, the complexity of your circumstances, and the level of conflict between the parties.
At Simple Separation, you'll work with an experienced Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner who will guide constructive discussions, help you negotiate a fair outcome, and support you through the process of making your agreement legally binding.
Family lawyer or professional negotiation
Appointing a lawyer to represent you is often appropriate when communication has broken down, negotiations have stalled, or your former partner is unwilling to engage in mediation or reach an agreement.
Most family lawyers charge between $500 and $750 per hour, so legal costs can increase significantly depending on the complexity of your matter and the length of the negotiations or court proceedings. If your matter requires ongoing correspondence, negotiations, or litigation, it's important to understand how these hourly fees can add up over time.
Litigation
This is generally for couples who have tried all options to reach agreement and require the court to decide their outcome for division of assets or parenting arrangements of the children as part of the terms of their divorce. If you choose to pursue litigation, you’ll need to set aside a budget for legal support, costs of the legal process, and court costs.
The legal support you select can be anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 each, or even more. This pathway erodes your property wealth pool, impacts your ongoing coparenting relationship and can make negotiations adversarial whilst keeping the whole family in a highly stressful environment for 1-2 years. It is important to try to negotiate together or gain support through mediation before embarking down the legal route as a last resort.
Cost-effective routes to divorce and separation
Getting the help of a legal professional and taking the traditional legal route can be expensive, with family lawyers and barristers charging hefty hourly and daily rates.
Additionally, you may even have to pay for other costs related to legal proceedings, like valuation costs, accountant fees for valuing your asset pool, and more.
If you choose to forego the traditional route to divorce and separation in Australia, you can select a provider that offers guidance and support on divorce and separation issues. A divorce and separation services firm, such as Simple Separation, offers couples an alternative way to get a fair and quick separation at a fraction of the standard cost of divorce in Australia.
Begin your separation journey with our cost-effective, fixed-fee pricing model.
Book a free 30 minute consultation with us at Simple Separation today to find out whether we are the right fit for you.