Q: What do i need to present to the law to get a divorce and the COST. Thank you Jbm

A: Impossible to answer on these facts. First, I would urge you to call a divorce lawyer, and provide a few salient details: how long married; any minor children; employment income of both spouses; real property; financial assets; retirement/pension assets; abuse allegations; separated or not; have you both already agreed to separate and divorce or not; already have an understanding or ageement about how to divide property and issues of alimony, support, etc.; whether a signed separation and property setlement agreement is a reasonable expectation; etc. Layers charge by the hour. Figure $250 on the low end, $500 or more on the higher end for experienced counsel. Drafting and negotiating a written separation agreement (if both parties can agree) is what costs the most in a non-contested divorce. Minor childen add a whole level of time and effort (custody, support, major decision making, visitation schedules, parenting plan, etc.). But, how much time that takes really depends on what the issues are that need to be resolved, and how much you and your spouse are already in agreement, and how much marital assets need to be divided. If there's an agreement, or if there are no children and no claims for alimony, and few marital asisets to divide (or there s complete agreement on how they are to be divided), then that will be the cheapest cost and will lead to a ten-minute uncontested divorce hearing. You might even be able to do that on your own using the court's self-help forms (I do not recommend that). But diagreements, emotion and many other factors can cause the time and effort to reach an ageement--or litigate the impasses--to grow exponentially, resulting in a lot more fees. So, it all depends on you and your spouse.