The level of your divorce costs is decided not by a timesheet but by a single figure – the procedural value (Verfahrenswert). It is set by the family court, at the Frankfurt am Main Local Court by the judge in charge. So it is not a declaration of assets but a calculated value derived from your joint net income.
Every unresolved point of dispute raises it.
Two separate types of cost draw on this value. The court costs follow the Family Court Costs Act (FamGKG), the lawyer fees the Lawyers' Remuneration Act (RVG). If each side instructs its own lawyer, the lawyer fees are incurred twice.
The basis
How the procedural value arises
The starting point is three times the joint monthly net income of both spouses, § 43 FamGKG. If both earn €3,000 net, that gives a base value of €18,000. It sounds abstract, but it carries every single fee.
This starting value is not negotiable.
Everything that is additionally settled moves it upwards. If the pension rights adjustment (Versorgungsausgleich) runs alongside – the equalisation of pension entitlements acquired during the marriage – each individual entitlement increases the value, § 50 FamGKG. Where the marital home, household contents or a property are in dispute, their value is added; the same applies to spousal and child maintenance, for ongoing maintenance at twelve times the monthly amount, § 51 FamGKG.
What matters for these pension entitlements is the marriage period. It is calculated from the month of the marriage until the end of the month before the divorce petition is served, § 3 (1) VersAusglG.
The law draws a lower limit in every case. The court does not go below the statutory minimum value, and upwards the value of the divorce matter is capped, § 43 FamGKG.
Fees
What the procedural value actually costs
Both types of cost are read off fixed tables – tables that apply nationwide. The court fee for the divorce amounts to twice the value-based fee from the FamGKG table (no. 1110 KV FamGKG). No VAT is charged on court costs.
The lawyer's fee follows the same principle, only according to the RVG table. Customary for divorce proceedings are a 1.3 procedural fee and a 1.2 hearing fee (nos. 3100, 3104 VV RVG), plus a flat-rate expense allowance and the statutory VAT (nos. 7002, 7008 VV RVG).
The value itself is set by the court alone.
Estimates are orientation, not a promise.
Follow along
A worked example: how your procedural value arises
Because every fee hangs on the procedural value, it is worth looking at how it is put together – here for two spouses with €3,000 net each and one pension entitlement each.
Example composition
- 3× joint net income (2 × €3,000), § 43 FamGKG
- €18,000
- + per pension entitlement in the pension rights adjustment, § 50 FamGKG
- raises the value
- + contested ancillary matters (maintenance, property …), §§ 50 f. FamGKG
- only if present
- = procedural value
- the basis of every fee
On top of this value come the fixed court fee (twice the value-based fee) and the lawyer fees (a 1.3 procedural and a 1.2 hearing fee under the RVG). The concrete euro amount for exactly your figures is worked out by the calculator at the top of the page.
A common misconception
Is an online divorce cheaper?
As far as the fees go: no. The statutory rates under the RVG and FamGKG apply nationwide – whether you are sitting at the table in the office or everything runs by video and email. What you save is travel, time and nerves, not the fee itself.
More on this on our page about the online divorce.
Regional
What does a divorce cost in Frankfurt & Hesse?
Exactly as much as anywhere else in Germany. Court and lawyer fees are regulated by statute nationwide – the FamGKG and RVG apply in Hesse just as in every other federal state. There is no “Frankfurt surcharge”.
It is not the place that determines the costs, but your procedural value.
Local jurisdiction lies with the family court at the family's habitual residence (§ 122 FamFG) – for many clients here the Frankfurt am Main Local Court. In the end only one thing differs regionally: higher incomes in the Rhine-Main area raise the procedural value and thus the fees – under the same tables that apply everywhere else.
When money is tight
Legal aid for proceedings
Nobody stays married for reasons of cost. Where income and assets are not enough, the state treasury covers the costs of the proceedings – in full or against interest-free instalments, § 76 FamFG in conjunction with §§ 114 ff. ZPO. The application is filed together with the divorce petition at the family court.
Besides need, a further requirement is that the proceedings have sufficient prospect of success. For the first consultation with a lawyer, advisory aid (Beratungshilfe) applies in addition.
Whether legal aid applies to you is something we check together with you. And you will not be left alone with the application.
Allocation of costs
Who bears the costs?
In the divorce matter the principle of setting off costs applies, § 150 (1) FamFG: both spouses bear the court costs in equal halves, and each bears their own lawyer's fees. So whoever merely consents and does not instruct their own lawyer ultimately pays only their share of the court costs.
The petitioning side must initially advance the court costs – half is then recovered from the other spouse. You can lay down a different allocation yourselves in a divorce settlement agreement. If income is not sufficient, legal aid for proceedings steps in.
Scope for saving
How to reduce your costs
You hold the greatest lever yourself: agreement. Every point you settle in advance – maintenance, assets, custody – falls away as a matter in dispute and pushes the procedural value down. Less conflict, leaner proceedings, lower fees.
Often a single legal representation is even enough. If both agree, it suffices for one spouse to file the petition and the other to consent – the second lawyer's fee thereby falls away almost entirely, as the requirement to be represented affects only the petitioning side, § 114 (1) FamFG. Only the person who gives the instruction is then represented – a point the economically weaker side in particular should know.
Providing for matters before a notary spares you the expensive route through the court later. A divorce settlement agreement can settle maintenance, accrued gains and household contents bindingly in advance and keep consequential disputes out of the proceedings. Whatever stays outside the divorce composite – such as household contents or the equalisation of accrued gains – then does not raise the procedural value, § 137 FamFG.
Not every income is treated the same. For the self-employed the court usually takes a multi-year average as a basis; for civil servants their pension scheme counts instead of a statutory pension. Professional pension schemes – for doctors, lawyers, architects – run separately in the pension rights adjustment, and very small entitlements stay out of it below a de minimis threshold, § 18 VersAusglG.
For reference
Divorce costs table by procedural value
For those who would rather look things up than calculate: the table shows the approximate cost of an amicable divorce (one lawyer) per procedural value – court and lawyer fees according to the official tables (FamGKG, RVG; as of 06/2025). For exactly your figures, use the calculator at the top of the page.
| Procedural value | Court costs | Lawyer fees (1 lawyer) | Total (amicable) |
|---|---|---|---|
| €4,000 | €296 | €901 | €1,197 |
| €8,000 | €476 | €1,609 | €2,085 |
| €12,000 | €627 | €2,127 | €2,754 |
| €15,000 | €688 | €2,291 | €2,979 |
| €20,000 | €810 | €2,618 | €3,428 |
| €25,000 | €871 | €2,782 | €3,653 |
| €30,000 | €952 | €3,037 | €3,989 |
| €40,000 | €1,114 | €3,549 | €4,663 |
| €50,000 | €1,276 | €4,061 | €5,337 |
All amounts are rounded; the lawyer fees include the 19 % VAT, court costs are exempt from VAT. In a contested divorce the lawyer's fee is incurred twice (each side its own lawyer) – the total costs are then correspondingly higher. The procedural value itself rises with the joint net income and with every point settled alongside (pension rights adjustment, maintenance, property). The concrete value is set by the court alone – the table is orientation, not a promise.