What a divorce actually costs in Portland, with real numbers

Lawyers are famously bad at answering this question, and the reason is boring: the honest answer has a range in it, and ranges sound evasive. Here is the range anyway, with the parts that move it.

The numbers

These are our own fees, in 2026, for matters filed in Multnomah, Clackamas or Washington County.

• Uncontested divorce with a written agreement: $3,500 to $6,500.
• Contested divorce that settles before trial: $9,000 to $22,000.
• Divorce that goes to trial: $28,000 and up, and the "and up" is doing real work in that sentence.
• Agreed parenting plan: $2,200 to $3,800.
• Contested custody with a custody evaluation: $18,000 to $40,000, of which the evaluator alone is $4,500 to $9,000.
• Uncontested stepparent adoption: flat $2,600, filing fee included.
• Estate plan, couple, with a funded trust: flat $1,950.

Court filing fees in Oregon add roughly $300 for a dissolution and a further $130 or so for a co-petition. Those are the state's, not ours.

The four things that actually move the number

1. How much the other side wants to fight

This is most of it. Two reasonable people with a complicated estate cost far less than two furious people with a simple one. You have limited control here, which is genuinely unfair, and it is why we quote a range rather than a figure.

2. Whether the finances are knowable

A W-2 household with a house and two retirement accounts is a known quantity. A self-employed spouse with a cash business and an LLC is a forensic accounting problem, and forensic accountants cost between $4,000 and $15,000.

3. Whether anyone commissions a custody evaluation

An evaluation is the single largest discretionary cost in family law. It takes four to seven months, costs thousands, and in our experience recommends roughly the arrangement the parents could have reached themselves in about half of cases. Sometimes it is genuinely necessary. Ask hard questions before agreeing to one.

4. How many times the plan changes

Every reversal on a settled position costs money, because the work is redone. Deciding slowly at the start is cheaper than deciding quickly and revisiting.

Where the money goes

People imagine courtrooms. In an average contested file, the hours break down closer to this: about a third on discovery and reviewing documents, a quarter on negotiation and correspondence with the other lawyer, a fifth on drafting, a tenth on client communication, and the rest on hearings. Trials invert this completely, which is why they cost what they do.

How to spend less

• Send documents in one organised batch rather than eleven emails. Sorting is billable, and it is the least valuable thing we do.
• Ask Aaron the scheduling and process questions. They are free.
• Save the non-urgent questions and ask them in one call rather than six.
• Take the reasonable offer. The gap between a good settlement and a great one is very often smaller than the cost of pursuing it.
• Consider mediation seriously, early, before positions harden.

If you cannot afford this

Say so on the first call. We set up monthly payment plans regularly. Oregon courts can also order a contribution toward fees where there is a real income disparity between the parties, and that is worth raising early rather than late. If we are genuinely out of reach, we will point you toward the Oregon State Bar referral service, Legal Aid Services of Oregon, or the Multnomah County family law facilitator, who is free.