Online Divorce Review: Should You Use This Service?

Divorce is an exhausting process, both emotionally and logistically, so if there are ways to simplify the process, it can be wise to take advantage of them. Using an online divorce service is one of the ways you can file more efficiently and at a much lower cost — especially with divorce attorney fees costing over $10,000 on average in 2021 — but they’re not right for everyone. You should only consider online divorce if you and your spouse are in agreement about your split and how to divide assets. 

One of the biggest names specializing in online divorce services is OnlineDivorce.com. It’s one of the longest-standing online divorce providers and promises to be the most affordable option. We at the Home Media reviews team conducted a full assessment of Online Divorce — exploring its features, costs, customer reviews and competitors — to see if it’s the best option for you.

Pros:

• One of the longest-standing online divorce companies
• Extremely affordable, advertising the cheapest online divorce filing service on the web
• Allows you to skip the lengthy court trial and attorney fees, but court approval is still guaranteed (or your money back)

Cons:

• Little access to attorney help
• Do not sell any blank forms, only option is for Online Divorce to create your forms for you
• Poor C rating on Better Business Bureau and 194 complaints filed within the last three years

Online Divorce is a legitimate company that was founded in 2001. Since then, the company claims to have helped over 500,000 people navigate the ending of their marriage throughout the United States and Canada. 

On its website, Online Divorce claims to offer the best price on the market at just $159 for its divorce package, also stating that its service will save clients at least $1,700 in lawyer fees. Although Online Divorce is not a law firm and cannot offer legal advice, the company virtually walks customers through the divorce filing process through its computer-assisted service. If you’re worried about choosing to file your divorce via the internet, Online Divorce offers a sense of security with a 100% guarantee of court approval or your money back.

No matter which online divorce filing service you use, it’s important to note that the service is only for uncontested divorces. That means that you and your spouse must be in agreement on the terms of your split, including everything from property and debts to child custody (if applicable).

If your marriage is ending on agreeable terms, you can likely move forward with filing your divorce online without any issues. Here are the four easy steps for filing through OnlineDivorce.com:

• Check if you qualify. This is Online Divorce’s way to figure out if your divorce is truly contested or not. The eligibility questionnaire will ask you if you know the location of your spouse and if you have both agreed on how to divide your property, assets and all child-related issues (if you share children).

• Answer detailed questions. Once your eligibility is determined, you’ll fill out a thorough questionnaire providing personal information about yourself and your marriage and the terms on which it’s ending. 

• Review completed forms. Online Divorce will use your answers from the questionnaire to prepare your divorce documents for you. All you’ll have to do is review the paperwork to make sure it’s accurate and make changes if necessary.
• File the documents. Finally, you will send your completed paperwork to your local court system and simply wait for the approval.

According to its website, this four-step process can be done in less than an hour, but how and when you choose to complete it is up to you. After you pay, your account with OnlineDivorce.com stays active for 30 days, although you can opt for a longer duration.

OnlineDivorce claims to offer the best price for online divorce service, guaranteed. The company´s base package is available for a one-time fee of $159 and includes the following:

• Step-by-step document completion and filing process for both spouses
• Online access to completed documents 
• Free revisions and free name change
• Access to customer support

Online Divorce also offers a Premium service for $299. With this package, representatives will file your paperwork with the court for you, review your processed documents before they are filed, and can serve your spouse. However, Online Divorce’s website states that the Premium service is not available in all states and counties.

You should be aware that neither of these packages include local court filing costs, so you’ll need to set aside extra money for that. The cost for this depends on where you live and can range anywhere from $50 to $435.

Another important thing to note is that you’ll need to cancel your membership to avoid any recurring charges. This caveat is noted in the fine print, which we’ve copied below:

“Online Divorce Technology LLC may automatically charge you at the end of the one month usage period (and each month thereafter) unless you notify us that you want to cancel your access. After that Online Divorce Technology LLC may still automatically charge you each year thereafter for Storage subscription unless you notify us that you want to cancel this type of subscription as well. The Storage subscription means that Online Divorce Technology LLC will keep your documents and data in our storage for easy data recovery. Notice that by canceling Storage subscription you give Online Divorce Technology LLC permission to delete all your data from our storage. You may cancel or access discounts for extended month purchases.”

As the name implies, OnlineDivorce.com is mainly used for filing a divorce online and not much else. However, it does offer some other standout features: 

Ready to File Divorce Documents

Online Divorce takes a lot of the headache out of the divorce filing process by doing the paperwork for you. All you have to do is fill out an easy-to-understand questionnaire that is filled with simple questions and zero legal jargon. All of the documents are easily accessible by both spouses through your OnlineDivorce.com account. You pay one flat fee to access all of your completed documents, and this cost even includes free revisions and free name change.

State-specific Filing

When you sign up for Online Divorce, one of the first questions you’ll be asked is where you’re filing. This ensures that all of the paperwork that comes out of the site will be compatible with your local court system and up to your state’s current standards.

Customer Support

You can contact a representative by phone Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. However, the website suggests opting instead to submit your question through its web form for the “fastest and most thorough” customer service, while claiming an average response time within 24 hours.

Blog

Online Divorce offers completely free information through its blog. There are feature articles written by tons of accredited experts in the field that cover a wide array of topics for people in every step of the divorce process, including those folks who may just be considering ending their marriage. 

Update Your Will (Coming Soon) 

If you’re getting a divorce, chances are you’ll probably need to rewrite your will so that it better represents your new life situation. A divorce does not revoke a will, so if there are any changes to how you would like your property and assets to be handled, you need to update your last will. As of November 2021, OnlineDivorce.com has a page for will updates, but clicking the service will currently only give you a popup message stating, “Thank you for your interest in our Will creation product. We will reach you as soon as it is available.”

“Next Chapter” Video Course (Coming Soon)

Online Divorce has another new feature in the works for its customers: “Next Chapter: Life After Divorce With Laura Wasser. According to its website, the video course will be an informative series offering support to customers in their post-divorce life, covering topics ranging from mental well-being and financial planning to career and dating. The video course will be led by Laura Wasser, a well-known Hollywood divorce lawyer, entrepreneur and author.

On its website, OnlineDivorce.com has a 5-star rating from over 13,500 reviews. However, other review sites had comments from customers who were less impressed with the service. For example, Online Divorce has an average score of only 3.7 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot, with a pretty split 55% of reviewers leaving 5-star reviews and 335 leaving just 1-star reviews. There are even more critics on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website, with the service receiving a C rating and just 2.83 out of 5 stars from customers. Online Divorce has also had 194 complaints reported on the BBB website within the last three years.

The top positive comments we read for Online Divorce praised the service for its:

• Affordability
• Excellent customer service
• Easy to use software

The most critical comments complained about Online Divorce for:

• Confusing cancelation instructions, resulting in payments after the customer wanted the service to be canceled
• Documents that did not hold up in court
• Premium service not delivering as promised

Our team has reached out to Online Divorce for comment on these critiques, but have not yet heard back.

Online Divorce may offer the best price for divorce filing, but how does it compare overall to similar services? We pitted the website against some of the top companies in the online divorce filing space to see how it fares.

Online Divorce vs. 3StepDivorce

3StepDivorce is the oldest online divorce service, promising simplicity and speed. As a sister company of Divorce Source, it has been helping people file for divorce online since 1997 and claims to have served over 10 million people.

Comparing websites, Online Divorce’s has a much more modern interface and is easier to navigate than that of 3StepDivorce. In terms of features, the two sites seem to be comparable. Both processes start with qualification and then move into a questionnaire that its representatives will then use to create your divorce forms for you to file with your local court. Neither service provides lawyers, legal advice or review of documents for accuracy, although 3StepDivorce does offer its clients a “significant discount” to JustAnswer Legal through an online form that is integrated into your account.

3StepDivorce is more expensive than Online Divorce, charging $299 for its divorce filing services. Unlike Online Divorce, 3StepDivorce offers the following payment plan options:

• 1 payment of $299
• 2 monthly payments of $157
• 3 monthly payments of $109
• 4 monthly payments of $84

As a bonus, if you file your divorce paperwork with your court within one business day of starting your process on its site, you will receive a $50 cash rebate, knocking the total price for 3StepDivorce services down to $249. 

While that’s still $110 more than Online Divorce, it’s only fair to note that 3StepDivorce does offer more benefits in its package. Here’s a complete look at other bonus items offered by Online Divorce:

• Forms available instantly online
• Optional delivery by US Priority Mail
• Child support calculation worksheets and guidelines
• Unlimited updates and instant editing capabilities
• Access to Answers from Attorneys at a discounted rate, provided by JustAnswer® Legal
• Marital Settlement Agreement
• Online divorce tracker and organizer
• Name change notification kit
• 40 downloadable books and manuals

Lastly, 3StepDivorce does seem to have an edge over Online Divorce when it comes to online reviews. On Trustpilot, Online Divorce has a rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars based on only 140 reviews, while 3StepDivorce has a rating of 4.2 stars based on more than 1,600 reviews. Neither site is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), but Online Divorce has a C rating on the BBB site, while Divorce Source (3StepDivorce’s original parent company) has an A rating.

Online Divorce vs. Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer is another online legal site that advertises itself as “legal made simple.” Founded in 2008, the online legal company is mostly focused on providing online legal documents with a monthly membership cost or a pay-per-document fee.

While Online Divorce is exclusively for divorce, Rocket Lawyer can be used for a variety of legal needs, including divorce. Through Rocket Lawyer’s website, you can create the same Divorce Settlement Agreement that is necessary to file your divorce in court. The service also offers other documents for divorce needs, including a Demand for Alimony Payment or a Divorce Records Request Letter.

As far as pricing goes, Rocket Lawyer is a pretty affordable option. With a 7-day free trial for the Premium Membership, you could file all of your divorce paperwork without having to pay anything upfront. After the free week, you’ll be charged $39.99 per month for unlimited access to Rocket Lawyer’s services, which include attorney support at a 40% discount. If you choose not to sign up for Rocket Lawyer’s Premium membership, your Divorce Settlement Agreement document will cost you a flat fee of $39.99.

If you feel more comfortable having an attorney walk you through your online divorce filing process, we found that Rocket Lawyer is the best site for legal assistance. After you fill out your divorce papers, you’ll get a 30-minute phone call with an attorney and have all of your documents reviewed by an attorney before you file, which offers a lot of peace of mind during an otherwise stressful time.

On top of that, with a $39.99 per month membership, Rocket Lawyer may actually be more affordable than Online Divorce. Even if you need Rocket Lawyer’s divorce services for three months, you’d still have only paid $119.97 compared to the $159 cost for Online Divorce services.

The downside to Rocket Lawyer is that its services do not come with the simplicity and speed of those of Online Divorce. Instead of completing an easy questionnaire and having your online divorce paperwork created for you, Rocket Lawyer simply provides the divorce documents for you, but you’ll be expected to go through the legal document and fill it out yourself (potentially with some help from an attorney, if you pay for this service). Also to consider, while having your document reviewed by an attorney is a nice feature, Rocket Lawyer does not specify how long you will have to wait to have those papers reviewed.

Our team reached out to representatives at Rocket Lawyer for comment on these critiques. Here is their response:

“There tend to be other legal issues that arise when getting a divorce that Rocket Lawyer can also help with, such as updating your estate plan, transferring property, or dealing with changes in your business, if you are business partners with your spouse. A divorce-only website might not be able to support more complex needs.” — Rocket Lawyer spokesperson

If you’re looking for legal help, you may want to choose Rocket Lawyer. However, if speed and simplicity are more of a priority for you, Online Divorce may be the better option.

First and foremost, we want to stress that we do not recommend this service if you have any critical, unresolved issues in your divorce, such as disagreements over alimony, child custody or division of assets. If the latter describes your situation, you will probably need to go through the more traditional divorce route with a licensed attorney.

If you and your spouse are ending your marriage on agreeable terms, OnlineDivorce is a reputable and affordable option for online divorce filing, having served hundreds of thousands of people already. The company lists a 5-star rating on its website, with close to 14,000 customers praising its quick and simple service. In light of all of this, we believe it’s a good option for couples looking to untie the knot on amicable terms.

Our staff identified and evaluated the top players operating in the online divorce industry by examining hundreds of data points.  In order to compare the various players in the online divorce space, we analyzed numerous data points including divorce pricing and the inclusion of free attorney consultations . We closely analyzed customer feedback across third-party review sites to develop a customer-centric perspective on direct experiences with the businesses.

We used these rating factors to determine the best online divorce company based on customer needs. 

• Attorney consultations
• Package pricing
• Speed
• Customer Reviews
• Customer Service Availability
• Geographic Coverage 

Our data is monitored on a regular basis to be sure we provide you with the most up-to-date information and advice.