You can get divorced with no money by asking the court to waive your filing fees, using free legal aid or a law school clinic if you qualify, and filing the standard self-help divorce forms the court provides at no cost. If your spouse earns more than you, the judge can also order them to pay your attorney fees and temporary support while the case is pending. Being broke slows the process down and makes it harder, but it does not trap you in the marriage.
Ask the Court to Waive Your Filing Fees
Filing a divorce petition generally costs somewhere between $100 and $350, depending on where you live. Nearly every court system waives that fee for people who cannot afford it. You usually qualify one of three ways: your income falls below a threshold tied to the federal poverty guidelines, you are enrolled in a public assistance program like SNAP or Medicaid, or you can show the court that paying the fees would keep you from covering basic living expenses.
The waiver is not just for the initial filing. It typically covers motion fees, hearing fees, and other court costs that come up throughout the case, which is where a self-represented person can otherwise get nickel-and-dimed into giving up.
Pick up a fee waiver form from the court clerk’s office or download one from your local court’s website. You will fill in your income, expenses, assets, and any public benefits you receive. A judge reviews the application and either approves it, denies it, or asks for more documentation. If it gets denied, you can usually request a hearing and explain your situation in person. File the waiver at the same time as your divorce petition so it doesn’t delay the case.
Find Free or Low-Cost Legal Help
Legal aid organizations funded through the Legal Services Corporation provide free civil legal help to people who meet income limits, generally at or below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines.1Legal Services Corporation. About Legal Aid For 2026, that works out to roughly $19,950 per year for a single person or $41,250 for a family of four.2HHS ASPE. 2026 Poverty Guidelines These offices handle divorces, custody disputes, and protective orders. Your state bar association’s website or a call to 211 can point you to legal aid offices in your area.
Many law schools run family law clinics where supervised law students take real divorce cases at no charge. These clinics are often underused, and the students have the time to prepare carefully. Search for “law school legal clinic” plus your city or state.
Unbundled Legal Services
If you don’t qualify for legal aid but can’t afford full representation either, look into “unbundled” or limited-scope legal services. You hire an attorney only for the parts of the case you most need help with, such as reviewing your paperwork before you file, coaching you before a hearing, or standing up with you at a single court appearance. You handle the rest yourself and pay only for what you use.
Make the Higher-Earning Spouse Pay
This is the piece people with no money most often miss, and it can change the whole picture.
Most states allow a judge to order the higher-earning spouse to contribute to the other spouse’s attorney fees during a divorce. Courts consider the income gap between the spouses, each person’s access to marital funds, and whether either party has acted in bad faith. If your spouse earns significantly more than you, raise this early through a motion for interim attorney fees. An award of fees can put a lawyer within reach even mid-case, so it is worth asking for even while you are representing yourself.
Temporary Support While the Case Is Pending
Once a divorce is filed, either spouse can ask the court for temporary orders that stay in effect until the divorce is finalized. Those orders can include temporary spousal support so the lower-earning spouse can cover living expenses, temporary child support, temporary use of the family home, and access to joint bank accounts or other marital assets needed for basic needs. The court can also order one spouse to keep paying household bills like the mortgage or utilities.
You file a motion explaining what you need and why. The judge holds a brief hearing. You do not need to prove your entire divorce case at this stage; you just need to show an immediate need and that the other spouse has the ability to help. Temporary support matters most when your spouse controlled the household finances, because it prevents financial strangulation during the months or years the case takes to finalize.
File and Serve the Papers Yourself
Every state provides the forms you need to start a divorce, free of charge. Get them from the court clerk’s office, the state judicial council’s website, or the courthouse self-help center. The core documents are a petition, which tells the court you want a divorce and what you are asking for, and a summons, which notifies your spouse the case has begun. Many courts now allow electronic filing, though you can also file in person or by mail.
Before you file, gather your financial records: bank statements, recent pay stubs, tax returns from the last two or three years, retirement account statements, mortgage documents, credit card statements, vehicle titles, and your marriage certificate. If children are involved, collect their birth certificates and records of childcare or medical expenses. Having this information ready prevents delays and makes your paperwork more accurate. That accuracy matters more when you don’t have a lawyer double-checking you.
Serving Your Spouse
After filing, you must formally deliver the papers to your spouse, a step called service of process. You cannot serve the papers yourself. Someone over 18 who isn’t involved in the case has to do it, usually a sheriff’s deputy, a professional process server, or in some states, any adult willing to serve and sign an affidavit. Service can also happen through certified mail with a return receipt in many jurisdictions. Whoever delivered the papers then files a proof of service form with the court. Without that proof, your case cannot move forward.
When You Can’t Find Your Spouse
If your spouse has disappeared and you have genuinely exhausted efforts to locate them, checking public records, searching last known addresses, trying social media, you can ask the court for permission to serve by publication. This means publishing a legal notice in a newspaper in the area where your spouse was last known to live, typically once a week for four consecutive weeks. You will need to file a declaration describing every step you took to find your spouse before the court will approve this method. Judges expect real effort before granting it.
If Your Spouse Doesn’t Respond
After being served, your spouse typically has 20 to 30 days to file a response. The exact window varies by state. If they don’t respond in time, you can request a default judgment. File a request for entry of default with the court clerk, which blocks your spouse from filing a late response without a judge’s permission. Some states then require a brief hearing where you testify about the basic facts of your marriage and what you are asking for. Others let you submit a written affidavit instead.
One critical limitation in a default divorce: the judge cannot grant you anything you didn’t specifically ask for in your original petition. If you forgot to mention the house, a retirement account, or a specific debt, the court won’t address it. Careful preparation of your petition pays off, especially when you are representing yourself.
Money Issues the Decree Has to Address
Every divorce must formally deal with who gets what and who owes what. States follow one of two approaches. A handful use community property rules, where most assets and debts acquired during the marriage are split roughly equally. The majority use equitable distribution, where a judge divides things fairly based on factors like each spouse’s income, the length of the marriage, and each person’s contributions. Fair does not always mean 50/50.
Even if it feels like you have nothing to divide, the divorce decree needs to address whatever exists: a bank account with $200, a car with a loan balance, credit card debt, or a tax refund that hasn’t arrived yet. Skipping this creates problems later.
Joint Debts Don’t Disappear
Something that catches people off guard: a divorce decree can assign a joint debt to your ex-spouse, but the original creditor is not bound by your divorce agreement. If both of you signed for a credit card or car loan, the lender can still come after either of you for the full balance, no matter what the decree says. If your ex stops paying a debt the decree assigned to them, the creditor can pursue you, damage your credit, or both. Close joint accounts and refinance debts into one person’s name alone before or during the divorce whenever you can. When that isn’t possible, at least monitor those accounts after the divorce is final.
Retirement Accounts and QDROs
Dividing a 401(k), pension, or other employer-sponsored retirement plan requires a special court order called a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, or QDRO. Federal law generally prohibits plan participants from assigning their retirement benefits to someone else, but a QDRO creates a narrow exception that lets a divorce court award a portion of those benefits to a former spouse.3U.S. Department of Labor. Qualified Domestic Relations Orders – An Overview Without a QDRO, the plan administrator will not release any funds to the non-participant spouse, regardless of what the decree says.
QDROs typically cost several hundred dollars to prepare, and that cost is often split between the spouses. If affording one worries you, raise the issue in your divorce proceedings. The court can order your spouse to cover the cost, or the expense can be addressed as part of the overall property division. Skipping the QDRO and planning to deal with it later is one of the most expensive mistakes people make in low-cost divorces, because retirement plans can change or be depleted in the meantime.
Health Insurance and Social Security After Divorce
If you are covered under your spouse’s employer-sponsored health plan, divorce is a qualifying event under the federal COBRA law, which applies to private employers with 20 or more employees. COBRA lets a divorced spouse continue coverage under the same plan for up to 36 months.4U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers The catch is cost: you pay the full premium, including the portion the employer used to cover. If your spouse’s employer has fewer than 20 employees, check whether your state has a “mini-COBRA” law with similar protections.
If COBRA premiums are unaffordable, losing coverage through divorce is a qualifying life event that lets you enroll in a Health Insurance Marketplace plan outside of open enrollment. Depending on your income, premium tax credits may make Marketplace coverage cheaper than COBRA.
If your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you may be eligible to collect Social Security benefits based on your former spouse’s work record once you reach age 62, provided you are currently unmarried and not entitled to a higher benefit on your own record. If you have been divorced for at least two years, you can claim on your ex’s record even if they haven’t started collecting yet, as long as they are at least 62 and eligible.5Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404-0331 Claiming on your ex’s record does not reduce their benefit or affect a current spouse’s benefit. If you are at eight or nine years of marriage and considering divorce, the 10-year threshold is worth knowing about before you finalize anything.
If Domestic Violence Is Involved, Safety Comes First
If abuse is a factor, safety planning has to come before filing. You can request a protective order (sometimes called a restraining order) through the court, and in most states the filing fees for protective orders are waived. A protective order can prohibit your spouse from contacting you, keep them away from your home or workplace, and in some cases grant you temporary custody of children or exclusive use of the family home.
Every state operates an address confidentiality program that gives domestic violence survivors a substitute mailing address to use on public records, including court filings. This prevents an abusive spouse from finding your new location through the legal process itself. Eligibility typically requires documentation of the abuse or a protective order. Contact your state attorney general’s office or a local domestic violence hotline to enroll before you file.
Legal aid organizations prioritize cases involving abuse. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) can connect you with local resources, safety planning, and legal referrals.