Process guides

Read the filing record before the narrative

These guides sit on 120 state-by-process records across 10 states. 20 filings are listed at $0; paid filings in the corpus run $20 to $1,435.

Open divorce records Browse all processes

Fee rank is not wait rank

Civil Lawsuit has the highest average listed filing fee ($405) among 12 process types. That is not the longest wait: Divorce averages 85 days.

$405
highest avg fee · Civil Lawsuit
85 days
longest avg wait · Divorce
17%
rows listed at $0
12
process types

Averages are the midpoint of each process type's listed fee range and the mean of recorded waiting periods, from the same rows as the chart. Educational reference only.

Guide inventory

How the guide set splits

Exclusive parts of all 7 guides, orthogonal to mean-fee ChartBar and $0 Gauge below.

Average listed fee

Mean filing fee by process type

Civil Lawsuit$405Property Dispute$404Probate$380Guardianship$317Divorce$292Name Change$239Eviction$195Court Mediation$181Tenant Rights$109Small Claims$93Domestic Violence Protection$0Restraining Order$0
Mean listed filing-fee midpoint by process type, 120 fee-scheduled rows, as of 2026-09-01

Zero-fee share

20 of 120 rows list $0

0%100%17%
Share of fee-scheduled process rows listed at $0 for both the low and high fee, as of 2026-09-01

How to File for Divorce

Step-by-step reference covering residency notes, filing fees, grounds, and waiting periods across 10 covered states.

Small Claims Court Dollar Limits by State

Compare small claims court dollar limits, filing fees, and key rules across the covered states.

The Eviction Process Explained

A comparison of eviction filing fees, recorded notice periods, and court-source notes in the current coverage set.

Understanding Court Filing Fees

What the stored fee schedules show, how fee waivers are described in sources, and which process types include $0 filings.

How to File for Guardianship

Guardianship filing requirements, court evaluations, and costs by covered state, drawn from the same process records.

How to Legally Change Your Name

Name-change filing fees, publication notes, and court hearing records across the covered states.

Self-Represented Litigants (Pro Se Registry)

A registry-style guide for self-represented filers, with pointers to state records and court self-help sources.

Methodology

Guides are compiled from publicly available state court and legal-aid sources linked on each state record. Statistics on this hub are queried live from the same processes table that powers the process and state pages.

For educational purposes only. This hub does not constitute legal advice. Verify current fees and waiting periods with the court that will receive the filing. See the methodology page for vintage, coverage, and verification notes. As of 2026-09-01.

Download the court filing-fee registry cited on this page: civil-process-filing-fees.csv (CC0).

Fee and timeline figures on PlainCivil are rendered from the portal's state-process database compiled from published court schedules, no fee is invented for a ranking. Guides hub lists process guides and live fee-schedule aggregates from the portal database. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-01. PlainCivil does not rate, rank-recommend, or advise on legal strategy, it reports what published schedules and court materials contain.