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Divorce in Berks County: Process, Costs, and Lawyers

How a Pennsylvania divorce works in Berks County: the no-fault paths, how the 90 days and the one year are counted, every Prothonotary fee, what the court decides, when a hearing officer is involved, what Berks firms print, and where free and reduced-fee help is.

Berks Connect Blog|Published October 18, 2026
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If you and your spouse both agree, a divorce in Berks County costs $350 in court fees ($250 to file the complaint plus $100 for the form that asks for the decree, the court's final order ending the marriage), and the earliest that form can go in is roughly 110 days after the complaint is served if neither of you waives the notice step, and then the court reviews the file. If your spouse won't agree, the divorce can still be granted after at least a year of living separate and apart. If the two of you can't settle the money or property claims, either of you can ask for a hearing officer, a $1,015 deposit. The county's own advice for any divorce action is to hire a lawyer, so the last section is about finding a divorce lawyer in Berks County. This is general information; a question about your own marriage goes to a lawyer, the Bar's referral service at 610-375-4591, or MidPenn Legal Services.

Firms are on the county lawyers page; if you're not sure you need a lawyer at all, start with whether you need a lawyer at all.

How do you get a no-fault divorce in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania's no-fault grounds give three paths, plus a fourth, confinement in a mental institution for at least 18 months immediately before the case with no reasonable prospect of discharge. The first is mutual consent: the complaint says the marriage is "irretrievably broken", and once 90 days or more have passed after service of the complaint, each of you signs an affidavit of consent, a sworn form saying you agree to the divorce. The second is for when only one of you wants it: an affidavit says you've lived separate and apart for at least one year (the one-year rule applies to separations that began on or after December 5, 2016), and your spouse either doesn't deny it, or denies it and the court decides after a hearing. The third: a spouse convicted of a personal injury crime against the other is presumed to consent.

The six fault grounds, the reasons that blame one spouse, exist and require the spouse who files to be the "innocent and injured spouse". There's no legal separation in Pennsylvania; separation means living separate and apart, whether under the same roof or otherwise.

Who can file in Berks County, and where do the papers go?

At least one of you must have been a bona fide resident of Pennsylvania, lived here in fact, not just on paper, for at least six months immediately before the case starts. The case is brought in the county where either of you lives, or one you both agree on in writing; in Berks, you file with the Prothonotary, the court's filing office, at 633 Court Street in Reading, 610-478-6970. The county says you're entitled to a lawyer but not required to have one, and the statewide divorce forms are on the state courts' self-help page, which the county's self-help page links to.

The court won't act on your case until you've served the papers on your spouse and filed proof of it. The sheriff or any competent adult can hand them over, but not you or a person related to you. You can mail them first-class plus certified, delivery restricted to your spouse, with a return receipt; mail that comes back unclaimed doesn't count, and you use another method. Or your spouse signs an acceptance of service, a form saying they received the papers.

How an agreed divorce moves through the Berks courthouse, and how the 90 days are counted.

When you both agree, proof of service goes in first. The affidavits of consent are signed 90 days or more after service of the complaint and filed within 30 days of signing. The last form is the praecipe to transmit the record, the form that asks the court to enter the decree. Before it goes in, either you both file waivers of notice and skip the 20-day notice step. Or the spouse who filed serves a notice of intention to file the praecipe, along with a form to deny it, and waits a minimum of 20 days. With nothing waived, that puts the praecipe at the earliest roughly 110 days after the papers are served, and then the court's review.

What if you agree on the divorce but not on the house? That doesn't take you off the 90-day consent path. The property claim goes in as a second count, a separate claim in the complaint, at $60, so the court fees start at $410 rather than $350. Once the affidavits are in and the notice step is done, the spouse asking for the divorce files a praecipe asking for an order saying the legal reason for the divorce is established, and the decree waits until that claim is settled by agreement or decided. If you can't settle it, either of you may ask the court to hear it or to appoint the hearing officer, the $1,015 step.

On the one-year path the affidavit is served with a form to deny it; after at least 20 days comes the notice of intention, and after at least 20 more the praecipe. That path needs no signature from your spouse: once the affidavit is served on them the way the complaint was, if they don't deny it, the case moves on with the same $250 and $100.

What does a divorce cost at the Berks County courthouse?

The Prothonotary prints its fees, and these are the divorce lines.

These are the Berks County Prothonotary's fees for a divorce, as of October 2026. The fee bill says fees are subject to change, and a sheriff's service deposit ($150 for one to three defendants), card processing fees, a $1 fee per document filed on paper, and copies are extra.

Filing Prothonotary fee
Divorce complaint, one count $250
Each additional count (property division, alimony and the like) $60
Praecipe to transmit the record (the form that asks for the decree) $100
Divorce hearing officer (contested cases) $1,015
Notice to resume a prior surname $45
Certified copy of the decree $10
Custody claim added to a divorce complaint $30.50

A count is each separate claim in the complaint, so the divorce is one count and a request to divide property or for alimony is another, and each one after the first adds $60. If you can't pay the costs of litigation, the county's self-help page has the in forma pauperis forms that ask the court to excuse the fees.

How does the court divide property and decide alimony?

Marital property is all property acquired by either party during the marriage, plus the increase in value of property a spouse owned before or received as a gift or inheritance, with exceptions the law lists, such as property acquired before the marriage. Equitable distribution is the court's division of that property, done "without regard to marital misconduct" in whatever percentages the court deems just after weighing all relevant factors; the law lists thirteen. Four of them: the length of the marriage, each spouse's income and employability, "the contribution of a party as homemaker", and who will have the children.

Alimony isn't automatic: the court may allow it to either party "only if it finds that alimony is necessary". While the case is pending, the court may, on a petition, order one spouse to pay the other support and reasonable counsel fees.

What happens when a divorce is contested in Berks County?

A contested divorce is one where the money or property claims, or the facts in a one-year affidavit, are disputed. Once grounds are established, either of you may ask the court to hear them or to appoint a divorce hearing officer, a lawyer the court appoints to hear the contested claims and recommend a decision.

Can the court order counseling? In a mutual-consent case either spouse can ask for up to three sessions, which the court orders within the 90 days after the case starts. Mediation of the money and property claims, a neutral third party helping the two of you settle, is private and voluntary in Berks, and it produces a written agreement the court can enforce.

What does a divorce lawyer in Berks County do, and what do firms print?

A divorce lawyer advises you of your rights and duties, works toward a settlement, and represents you in court. The county's own divorce page calls hiring a lawyer highly recommended for any divorce action. A lawyer may not charge a fee that depends on getting the divorce or on the amount of alimony or support, and a new client gets the basis of the fee in writing; the rest is in how lawyers charge in Berks County.

Mendelsohn & Mendelsohn, at 637 Walnut Street in Reading, prints a special rate for an uncontested no-fault divorce of $195 plus costs, as of 2026. Ask what it counts as costs.

Nevins & McAllister, at 602-604 Court Street in Reading, offers a free consultation and handles contested and uncontested divorce.

More family law firms are on the best lawyers in Berks County by practice area and the county lawyers page. The Berks County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service, 610-375-4591, charges $50 cash for a referral. The Bar's Modest Means Program offers an uncontested divorce with a Berks lawyer at a discounted rate for applicants whose income "exceeds legal aid standards by 75%"; MidPenn Legal Services, 1-800-326-9177, does the income check that decides who qualifies. The other doors are in free and low-cost legal help in Berks County.

Frequently asked questions about divorce in Berks County.

Can I go back to my former name?

Yes. A notice to resume a prior surname is filed with the Prothonotary, its fee is in the table above, and the statewide form sits with the rest of the divorce forms on the state courts' self-help page.

Can we be separated while we still live in the same house?

Yes, under some circumstances: separation means living separate and apart, whether under the same roof or otherwise.

What about custody, child support and protection from abuse?

Each is its own process: custody is separate and the custody section of whether you need a lawyer at all explains it, child support is Domestic Relations, and a protection from abuse petition costs the person filing it nothing and has its own office.

So figure out which path you're on, then make one call: the Bar's referral line or a family lawyer from the county lawyers page.

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