Online, all 50 states, flat fee quoted upfront
Divorce papers prepared correctly, ready to file in your state
Divorce document preparation services draft the court-ready paperwork for a divorce, including the petition or complaint, financial disclosures, marital settlement agreement, parenting plan, and proposed decree, completed from the decisions you and your spouse have already made and formatted to your state's required forms and local court rules. The preparer drafts; you review, sign, and file. It is document preparation, not legal advice or representation.
Most uncontested divorces are rejected or delayed for clerical reasons: a missing mandatory form, a disclosure that does not reconcile, a decree that leaves out a retirement account the clerk cannot fix for you. We prepare the complete packet for your state and county, in the right order, with signing and filing instructions, for one flat fee quoted before work begins.
What a divorce paperwork service prepares, document by document
A divorce filing is not one document, it is a packet where each piece depends on the others: the settlement agreement must match the disclosures, the parenting plan must match the petition, and the decree must capture all of it or the judgment will not say what you agreed. These are the components we prepare.
Petition or complaint, summons, and case-opening forms
The pleading that opens the case, on your state's mandatory form where one exists, with the cover sheets, case information statements, and standing-order acknowledgments your county requires alongside it.
Financial disclosures that reconcile
Income, expense, asset, and debt schedules built so the numbers tie out across every form. Courts reject packets whose disclosures contradict the settlement terms; ours are prepared together so they cannot. See financial affidavit preparation for the disclosure document on its own.
Marital settlement agreement and parenting plan
The agreement that divides property and debts on the terms you both chose, and where there are children, a schedule the court can enforce. Custody and holiday schedules are drafted through our parenting plan drafting desk.
Proposed decree and QDRO handoff
The proposed final judgment the judge signs, drafted to capture every agreed term. When a 401(k) or pension is being divided, the decree language is coordinated with QDRO preparation for retirement splits, because a decree that says "divide the pension" without a qualified order divides nothing.
Not divorcing yet, or divorcing later on agreed terms? Couples who want the split documented without dissolving the marriage use a separation agreement drafted to the same standard, and it often becomes the backbone of the settlement agreement when the divorce is eventually filed.
Help with divorce papers when you are filing without a lawyer
Most pro se filers do not fail on the law, they fail on the paperwork: the wrong form revision, a disclosure schedule left blank, a decree that omits a term the agreement contained. Preparation removes that failure mode. But the line between drafting and advising is real, and you should know exactly where it sits before you hire anyone.
What this service does
- Completes every required state and county form from the decisions you have already made
- Drafts the settlement agreement and parenting plan in enforceable language that matches your terms exactly
- Formats captions, margins, and attachments to the local rules of your filing court
- Assembles the packet in signing and filing order, with notarization flagged where required
What only a licensed attorney can do
- Advise whether a proposed property split, support amount, or custody schedule is fair or wise
- Negotiate with your spouse or their counsel on your behalf
- Appear or argue for you in court
- Predict how a judge will rule on a contested issue
If any term is still in dispute, get advice first. Bring us the agreement; do not ask us to pick its terms.
Can this service divorce papers on my spouse? Preparing is not serving
No, and no document preparation service should. Filing opens your case; service of process is the separate step that gives the court power over your spouse, and every state restricts who may perform it. Depending on your state, that is the sheriff, a licensed or registered process server, or an adult who is not a party to the case, and in some states certified mail through the clerk. A preparer is none of those, so we prepare the papers and you arrange service.
What we do prepare is everything service depends on: the summons the server delivers, and in cooperative cases the waiver or acceptance of service your spouse can sign instead, which skips formal service entirely and is the normal path in an uncontested divorce. Get service wrong and the court never acquires jurisdiction, which means a decree entered later can be attacked and unwound. It is the one step in a divorce where a shortcut can cost you the judgment itself.
Uncontested divorce paperwork built to your state's forms and local rules
There is no national divorce form. Some states mandate their own form sets and reject anything else; others accept drafted pleadings but enforce county-level formatting and attachment rules. Residency requirements, waiting periods, disclosure obligations, and parenting class mandates all vary by state, and clerks reject packets that miss any of it without telling you how to fix them. This is why generic downloaded kits fail: the forms may be real but stale, or right for the state and wrong for the county.
Because compliance is a research problem, not a proximity problem, the work is done fully online for filings in all 50 states. We verify the current mandatory forms and the local rules of the specific court where you will file, prepare the packet to them, and tell you what the court will expect from you procedurally: what gets notarized, what gets served or waived, and what you bring to the final hearing if your state holds one.
Turnaround is stated with your quote and most uncontested packets are delivered within days, not weeks. Revisions during the included review window are part of the flat fee, because a packet you are afraid to ask us to fix is a packet that gets filed wrong.
One flat fee, quoted before any work starts
Divorce paperwork is a defined scope: a known set of documents for a known court. Defined scopes should not be billed by the hour. You tell us your state, whether there are children, and what there is to divide; we quote one number that covers drafting, formatting, and the revision window, and that number does not move. The same model runs across everything we draft; see how flat fee legal services work here for the mechanics.
Legal Tank is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or representation. We prepare documents from the decisions you provide; we do not advise which decisions to make, do not appear in court, and do not serve process. If you are unsure whether the terms of your divorce are fair or whether an uncontested filing is right for your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state before filing.
Divorce document preparation FAQ
What do divorce preparation services include?
A complete preparation engagement covers every document your filing requires: the petition or complaint, summons, financial disclosures, the marital settlement agreement, a parenting plan where there are children, and the proposed final decree. Everything is completed on the forms your state mandates and formatted to the local rules of the county where you will file, then delivered with plain instructions on signing order, notarization, and filing.
Is a paralegal document preparation service the same as hiring a divorce lawyer?
No. A document preparation service drafts the paperwork from decisions you have already made; a lawyer advises you on which decisions to make, negotiates with the other side, and appears in court for you. If your divorce is uncontested and you and your spouse agree on the terms, preparation is usually all the case needs. If the terms are still in dispute, you need counsel, not paperwork.
Do I need a local divorce paralegal, or can the paperwork be prepared online?
Divorce paperwork can be prepared entirely online, because what makes the documents valid is compliance with your state statutes and your county local rules, not the preparer sitting in your zip code. We prepare filings for all 50 states, built on the specific mandatory forms and formatting rules of the court where you will file. You review and sign locally; the drafting happens wherever the drafting desk is.
How much do divorce document preparation services cost?
You get one flat fee quoted upfront before any work starts, based on what your filing needs: whether there are children, retirement accounts to divide, and real property to transfer. That quote is final: no hourly meter, and no per-revision surcharges during the included revision window. That is a fraction of what full attorney representation runs for the same uncontested paperwork.
Will you serve the divorce papers on my spouse?
No. Service of process must be performed by someone your state authorizes, typically a sheriff, a licensed process server, or an adult who is not a party to the case, and we are none of those. We prepare the summons and, for cooperative spouses, the waiver or acceptance of service form that avoids formal service entirely. Serving is a separate step you or a process server completes after filing.
What is a doc prep service not allowed to do?
We cannot tell you what custody schedule to seek, whether a proposed property split is fair, or how a judge is likely to rule; that is legal advice, and giving it without a license is unlawful in every state. We also do not represent you in court or communicate with your spouse on your behalf. The documents record your decisions accurately; the decisions themselves stay yours or your attorney's.