You can get a divorce with no money — but it requires time, patience, and a willingness to do the legal paperwork yourself. The court system is not designed for people without money, but it has fail-safes: fee waivers for low-income filers, legal aid organizations that provide free representation, court self-help centers with forms and instructions, and a mechanism — the pendente lite fee award — that allows a spouse with no access to marital funds to ask the court to order the other spouse to pay their attorney fees. The combination of these tools makes divorce possible for people with little or no money. The path is slower and more difficult than hiring an attorney with a $5,000 retainer, but it exists and it works.
The first principle of getting divorced with no money is: eliminate the cost of the lawyer, not the cost of the divorce. An attorney costs $250 to $500 per hour with a $2,500 to $7,500 retainer — the single largest expense in any divorce. Eliminate the attorney, and the remaining costs — the filing fee, the service fee, and the cost of certified copies — total roughly $200 to $500. Most of those costs can be waived. A divorce with no money is almost always a pro se divorce — you represent yourself — with the filing fee waived under a fee waiver application. It is possible. It is done every day in every county in the United States. The question is not whether it is possible. The question is whether your case is simple enough for self-representation to work.
Five Paths to Divorce With Little or No Money
| Path | Total Cost | Best For | What You Give Up |
| Pro se with fee waiver | $0-$100 | Uncontested, no kids, no property, or fully agreed on everything | All legal advice and representation |
| Legal aid / pro bono attorney | $0 | Low-income, domestic violence victims, cases with children | Choice of attorney — you get whoever is assigned |
| Limited scope / unbundled attorney | $500-$3,000 | Need help with specific tasks — document review, coaching, one hearing | Full representation — you handle the rest yourself |
| Pendente lite fee award (spouse pays) | $0 upfront — attorney paid by spouse | Spouse controls all marital assets; you have no access to funds for representation | Requires an attorney willing to file the motion on credit or with a small initial payment |
| Mediation with sliding-scale fees | $500-$2,500 (often split between parties) | Both parties agree on most issues; need help finalizing the agreement | No individual legal representation — mediator is neutral |
Step 1: Apply for a Fee Waiver — the In Forma Pauperis Application
Every state allows low-income filers to request a waiver of court filing fees. The application is typically called an Application for Waiver of Filing Fee, an Affidavit of Indigency, or an In Forma Pauperis petition. It requires you to disclose your income, your assets, and your monthly expenses under oath. If your income is below a certain threshold — typically 125% to 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, adjusted for household size — the court will waive the filing fee. If your income is above the threshold but your expenses consume most of your income, you may still qualify at the judge’s discretion. The fee waiver application is filed simultaneously with the divorce petition. If it is granted, the filing fee is waived. If it is denied, you must pay the filing fee within a specified time — typically 30 days — or the petition will be dismissed.
Step 2: Contact Legal Aid and Pro Bono Organizations
Legal aid organizations provide free civil legal services to low-income individuals. Every state has at least one legal aid organization funded by the federal Legal Services Corporation. Legal aid handles divorce cases — particularly cases involving domestic violence, custody disputes, and the need for spousal or child support. The demand for legal aid always exceeds the supply. Apply early. Expect a waiting list. Legal aid prioritizes cases based on urgency — domestic violence cases are highest priority — and the availability of attorneys. If legal aid cannot represent you, they can refer you to other resources: pro bono attorney panels, court self-help centers, and online document preparation tools.
- Legal Services Corporation: lsc.gov — find your local legal aid office by zip code
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 — referrals to legal services for abuse victims
- WomensLaw.org: State-specific divorce information and legal resources for abuse survivors
- State bar associations: Many have pro bono referral programs and modest-means panels for reduced-fee representation
Step 3: File Pro Se — Represent Yourself
Self-representation — proceeding pro se — is the most common way to get a divorce with no money. You prepare and file the divorce petition yourself, using forms provided by the court, a court self-help center, or an online document preparation service. You serve the papers on your spouse. You negotiate the settlement directly with your spouse or through a mediator. You attend the final hearing and present your case to the judge. Pro se divorce works best when the divorce is uncontested — both parties agree on every issue — and there are no minor children, no real estate, and no complex assets to divide. When children, real estate, retirement accounts, or spousal support are at issue, pro se is riskier — the settlement agreement must address complex legal and financial issues, and a mistake in drafting has permanent consequences. If your case involves children, a house, or retirement assets, and you cannot afford an attorney, pursue legal aid, limited scope representation, or a pendente lite fee award before filing pro se.
A pro se divorce is not appropriate for cases involving domestic violence, hidden assets, custody disputes, or significant retirement accounts. If your spouse is abusive, hiding money, fighting you for custody, or dividing a pension or 401(k) worth more than a few thousand dollars, you need an attorney. The cost of a mistake in a pro se divorce — losing custody, waiving rights to a retirement account, signing an unfair support agreement — is far greater than the cost of finding a way to pay for representation.
Step 4: Ask the Court to Order Your Spouse to Pay Your Attorney Fees
If your spouse controls all the marital assets — the bank accounts, the income, the credit — and you have no access to funds to hire an attorney, you can ask the court to order your spouse to pay your attorney fees. This is called a pendente lite fee award — a temporary order issued during the divorce requiring one spouse to pay the other spouse’s legal fees so that both parties have access to representation. The purpose is to level the playing field. The court does not want one spouse to win by default because the other spouse could not afford an attorney.
A pendente lite fee award requires an attorney to file the motion — which creates a chicken-and-egg problem: you need an attorney to get the fee award, and you need money to hire the attorney. The solution: some family law attorneys will accept a case on the expectation of a pendente lite fee award. The attorney files the divorce petition and simultaneously files a motion for temporary attorney fees. If the motion is granted, your spouse pays the attorney directly. If the motion is denied, you may owe the attorney for the work done — discuss this risk explicitly before the attorney files anything. An attorney who will not discuss the risk of a denied fee award is not being honest with you.
FAQ: Common Questions About Getting Divorced With No Money
Are online divorce services worth it for people with no money?
Online divorce services — companies that prepare divorce forms based on your answers to a questionnaire — cost $150 to $500. They are worth the cost if your divorce is genuinely uncontested, you have no children, and you have minimal assets. The service prepares the forms. You file them. The service does not provide legal advice, does not represent you in court, and does not negotiate with your spouse. It is a document preparation service, not a law firm. For an uncontested, no-children, no-asset divorce, an online service plus a fee waiver can get you divorced for $150 to $500 total. For anything more complex, the online service is not a substitute for an attorney.
How long does a no-money divorce take compared to a divorce with an attorney?
Longer — typically 2 to 4 months longer for an uncontested case, and far longer for a contested case. A pro se litigant must learn the forms, the filing procedures, and the court rules from scratch. An attorney knows them already. A pro se litigant makes mistakes — rejected forms, missed deadlines, incomplete documents — that an attorney would not make. Each mistake adds time. A pro se divorce is cheaper in money and more expensive in time. Whether the time savings are worth the money is a decision only you can make.
Start With the Fee Waiver. Then Pursue Every Free Resource Available.
Getting a divorce with no money requires a fee waiver application, a pro se or legal aid filing, and — if your spouse controls the marital assets — a pendente lite fee award motion to make your spouse pay your attorney fees. The path exists. The system is not designed for you, but it accommodates you if you know which forms to file and which resources to pursue. Start with the fee waiver. Contact legal aid. Ask the court self-help center for the forms. If you must represent yourself, keep the divorce uncontested — agree on every issue — and use a mediator or a limited-scope attorney to review the final agreement before you sign it.
