Where to Get Free Uncontested Divorce Papers in NYC
The forms are free. That is the short answer, and it is worth stating plainly because a large number of websites charge for documents New York gives away.
Every form needed for an uncontested divorce in New York is published by the Unified Court System, downloadable at no cost, and available in paper at the courthouse. There is also a free guided program that fills them in for you. What follows is where each of those lives, which forms you actually need, and what the process costs once the paperwork itself is free.
Three free ways to get the forms
1. The Do-It-Yourself Uncontested Divorce Form Program
The court system runs a free guided program that asks questions in plain language and produces completed, filing-ready documents at the end. It is the better option for most people, because it fills in the forms rather than handing you blanks.
It is only open to you if all four of these are true:
- Both spouses are over 18
- There are no children under 21
- The marriage has been over for at least six months and the relationship cannot be saved
- All marital property issues, including debt, are already settled
Miss any one of them and the program will not produce your papers. The most common disqualifier by far is the second — children under 21, not under 18. A 20-year-old at university still puts you outside the program.
The program is at nycourts.gov/courthelp/diy/divorce.shtml.
2. Downloading the packet yourself
If the DIY program does not fit — children under 21, unresolved property, anything contested — the full uncontested divorce packet is still free to download from the court’s uncontested divorce forms page. You get blank forms and an instruction booklet, and you complete them yourself.
Download the packet rather than collecting forms individually. The instruction booklet is revised periodically and the version bundled with the packet matches the forms it ships with.
3. Picking up a paper packet at the courthouse
Every Supreme Court civil term in New York City keeps paper packets at its self-represented litigant office, free of charge. Useful if you would rather ask a person which forms apply to you than work it out from a PDF. Court staff can tell you which forms your situation requires; they cannot give you legal advice or fill them in for you.
What is actually in the packet
The full set runs to more than thirty documents, but no case uses all of them. These are the core forms almost every uncontested divorce touches:
| Form | Number | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Summons with Notice | UD-1 | Starts the action where no complaint is served with it |
| Summons | UD-1a | Used when the verified complaint is served alongside |
| Verified Complaint | UD-2 | States the grounds and the relief you are asking for |
| Affidavit of Service | UD-3 | Proves your spouse was served |
| Removal of Barriers to Remarriage | UD-4 / UD-4a | Required sworn statement before judgment |
| Affirmation of Regularity | UD-5 | Confirms the procedural steps were followed |
| Sworn Affirmation of Plaintiff | UD-6 | Your sworn account of the marriage and grounds |
| Affirmation of Defendant | UD-7 | Your spouse’s consent, where they sign |
| Note of Issue | UD-9 | Places the case on the court’s calendar |
| Findings of Fact / Conclusions of Law | UD-10 | What the judge signs setting out the determination |
| Judgment of Divorce | UD-11 | The judgment itself |
| Part 130 Certification | UD-12 | Certifies the papers are not frivolous |
| Request for Judicial Intervention | UD-13 | Assigns the case to a judge |
| Notice of Entry | UD-14 | Records that judgment was entered |
| Affirmation of Service of Judgment | UD-15 | Proves the judgment was mailed to your spouse |
Three notices go out with the summons and are easy to overlook: the Notice of Automatic Orders, the Notice of Guideline Maintenance, and the Notice Concerning Continuation of Health Care Coverage. They are not optional and their absence is a routine reason papers come back.
The forms that depend on your situation
- Children under 21: Child Support Worksheet (UD-8(3)), Support Collection Unit Information Sheet (UD-8a), and where health coverage is in issue, a Qualified Medical Child Support Order (UD-8b). How the number is reached is covered on our child support page.
- Maintenance in issue: Annual Income Worksheet (UD-8(1)) and Maintenance Guidelines Worksheet (UD-8(2)). See maintenance for how duration and amount are calculated.
- Cannot afford the fees: Fee Waiver Application and the proposed Order to Waive Court Costs, Fees and Expenses.
- Every case: a Certificate of Dissolution for the Department of Health, and the addressed postcard the court uses to notify you.
Free forms, paid filing
The documents cost nothing. Filing them does.
| Fee | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Index number | $210 | To commence the action |
| Note of Issue | $125 | To put the case on the calendar |
| Certified copy of the judgment | $8 each | Afterwards, as needed |
| Motion, if one is needed | $45 each | Only in cases requiring one |
| Minimum total | $335 |
Order at least two certified copies. You will need one to change your name and another for a bank, pension administrator or immigration filing, and going back for them later is slower than paying $8 now.
If $335 is out of reach, the fee waiver application is in the same free packet. File it at the start rather than partway through — a granted application covers the fees from that point forward, not retroactively.
Where the papers actually get filed
You file in the Supreme Court of a county where either spouse lives — divorce is a Supreme Court matter in New York, not Family Court, which is a distinction that trips people up constantly. Family Court handles custody, support and orders of protection. It cannot dissolve a marriage.
In New York City that means one of five counties: New York (Manhattan), Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Bronx, or Richmond (Staten Island). Either spouse’s residence is enough, so if you live in Queens and your spouse has moved to Brooklyn, you may file in either.
How it works in Queens
Queens County Supreme Court, Civil Term, sits at 88-11 Sutphin Boulevard, Jamaica, NY 11435, and the filing runs in two stages rather than one:
- First, file the Note of Issue and the Request for Judicial Intervention with the County Clerk in Room 106, and pay the $125 fee there.
- Then, submit the uncontested divorce papers to the Matrimonial Office in Room 140.
Doing it in the other order does not work — the Matrimonial Office will not take the packet until the Note of Issue fee is paid and stamped. The court also asks that every document be stapled individually rather than bound as one block.
The other four boroughs follow the same two-stage logic with their own room numbers, so confirm yours with the county clerk before making the trip.
What actually gets papers rejected
Uncontested divorce filings are refused at the counter far more often than people expect, and almost always for the same handful of reasons:
- The three notices left out. Automatic Orders, Guideline Maintenance, and Continuation of Health Care Coverage have to be served with the summons. This is the single most common omission.
- The index number missing from later forms. Once you buy the index number it belongs on every document you file after it.
- The six-month statement not matching. A no-fault ground requires the relationship to have been irretrievably broken for at least six months, and the date you state has to be consistent everywhere it appears.
- No Sworn Statement of Removal of Barriers to Remarriage. Required before judgment, routinely forgotten.
- Service not properly proven. The Affidavit of Service must be completed by the person who served — not by you, and never by a party to the case.
- Signatures and notarisation. Forms requiring notarisation must be signed in front of the notary, not before.
- Filing out of order. Note of Issue and RJI before the uncontested packet, not after.
None of these are substantive problems. They are all sequencing and completeness, and each one sends you back to the start of a queue.
When the free route stops being realistic
The free forms are genuinely adequate for a genuinely simple case. They stop being adequate at fairly predictable points:
- You cannot locate your spouse. Nothing in the packet can be filed until service is made. That requires a court order and publication in a newspaper the judge designates — see divorce by publication.
- Your spouse will not sign. The uncontested route depends on the Affirmation of Defendant. Without it the case is not uncontested, whatever you both say.
- There is a pension, a business, or real property. Dividing a retirement account takes a separate court order after the divorce. Valuing a business takes an expert. Neither is in the packet, and equitable distribution is where most of the money in a divorce actually sits.
- Custody is not settled. The DIY program excludes anyone with children under 21 for a reason. Custody arrangements written loosely tend to come back as enforcement problems.
- One of you has significantly more income. Waiving maintenance without understanding the guideline figure is a decision that cannot be undone after judgment.
If you want a fuller picture of what handling it yourself involves start to finish, we cover that in filing for divorce in New York without a lawyer.
Common questions
Are the divorce forms really free?
Yes. Every form is published free by the Unified Court System, online and in paper at the courthouse. Any site charging you for the documents themselves is charging for something the state gives away.
Do I need a lawyer to file an uncontested divorce?
No. New York expressly supports self-represented filing and runs a free program to assist it. Whether you should is a different question, and it turns on what is being divided rather than on the paperwork.
Can I use the DIY program if we have a 19-year-old?
No. The cutoff is children under 21, not under 18. You can still file an uncontested divorce using the downloadable packet — you just cannot use the guided program.
How long does an uncontested divorce take?
Three to six months is typical in New York City once the papers are filed correctly, driven mostly by court calendar volume rather than by anything either spouse does.
What if I cannot afford the $335?
Submit the Fee Waiver Application from the same packet. If granted, the court fees are waived from that point forward.
Do both of us have to appear in court?
In a properly documented uncontested divorce, usually neither of you does. The judge reviews the papers and signs the judgment.
If your case is not as simple as it looked
Most people who start with the free forms finish with them, and that is the right outcome when the case genuinely is uncontested. The ones who run into difficulty tend to discover it partway through — a spouse who stops responding, a pension nobody thought about, a custody clause that reads clearly to the two of you and ambiguously to everyone else.
Our office handles uncontested divorce for clients across New York City from 98-14 Queens Blvd, Queens, NY 11374. If you have the packet open and are not certain a section applies to you, get in touch before you file rather than after.
98-14 Queens Blvd