Divorce lawyer marketing

What does a click cost in divorce?

Core divorce searches averaged about $24 to $28 a click in October 2026. Searches for the cases many firms want most, such as high-asset and collaborative divorce, cost less per click, because fewer people phrase their search that way.

Click price follows how many firms compete for a phrase, not what the case is worth. A click on “cheap divorce lawyer” cost more than one on “high asset divorce attorney”, so judge every term by the retainers it signs. We left out “divorce lawyer” itself, because its monthly estimates swung too widely to trust.

What stage of a divorce is the person searching in?

Most divorce searchers are in one of three stages. They are considering divorce, they have decided and want to file, or they have just been served. Each stage uses different words, needs a different page and moves at a different speed.

The served spouse is the most urgent reader and the one most firms overlook. State law sets a deadline to respond, often a matter of weeks, so a page that explains that deadline for your state, with a phone number and a short form at the top, meets them when they are most ready to hire.

The considering stage is slower and larger. Content, email and a calm tone earn the call months later. Build one page for each stage rather than one page for everyone, and split your ad groups the same way, since the words people type tell you which stage they are in.

Which divorce cases should you build your marketing around?

Pick the two or three kinds of divorce your firm handles best and earns most from, then give each its own page, ad group and message. Contested, uncontested, mediated, high-asset and military divorces attract different people and need different proof.

• Contested and custody-heavy divorce. Show courtroom experience and how you prepare a case. Only about 320 people a month search for a contested divorce lawyer by name, so these clients mostly arrive through general searches and referrals.
• Uncontested and flat-fee divorce. A volume business. Price, speed and clear steps win, and the page should say exactly what the fee includes.
• Mediation and collaborative divorce. About 22,200 monthly searches for divorce mediation at $15.76 a click. Explain how the process works and when it does not fit.
• High-asset divorce. Small search volume at about $14.92 a click. Business valuation, retirement accounts and privacy are the proof points, and accountants and financial advisors usually send more of these cases than ads do.
• Military divorce. About 2,900 searches a month. Cover jurisdiction, military pensions and deployment in plain terms.

Searches by gender exist too, about 1,600 a month for divorce lawyers for women and 1,300 for men. Build those pages around concerns, such as parenting time, support or a business, rather than around grievances against the other spouse.

How do you keep divorce ads away from people who want forms?

Assume a large share of divorce searches come from people who plan to file on their own. Bid on searches that name a lawyer or attorney, exclude self-help wording, and never buy the bare word divorce without a tight exclusion list.

These seven searches add up to about 71,700 a month, far more than the 40,500 people who search for a divorce lawyer near me. Some of them will need a lawyer later, which is why your content should answer their questions. Your paid budget should not chase them.

• Exclude papers, forms, online, free, legal aid and do it yourself in every divorce campaign.
• Send “how much does a divorce cost” to an article, and keep ads for searches that ask for a lawyer.
• Read the search terms report weekly, because new self-help phrasing appears all the time.

What should a divorce landing page say about fees and process?

It should say which kind of divorce the page is for, how your fees work, what happens in the first weeks and how to reach you privately. People comparing firms leave pages that hide the cost or the next step.

• The fee model. A flat fee and what it covers for uncontested cases, or a retainer and hourly range for contested ones. If you cannot publish numbers, explain what drives the cost.
• The process in your state. Waiting periods, filing, temporary orders and how long a typical case takes, in plain words.
• The first meeting. Who they will meet, how long it lasts, what to bring and whether there is a charge.
• Private contact. A short form, text as an option, and a note on how and when the firm will reach them.
• Proof that fits. Reviews and attorney experience that match the case type on that page.

Price questions are common. About 2,400 people a month search for what a divorce lawyer costs, and a few hundred for a divorce lawyer payment plan. Whether you offer a free consultation or a paid strategy meeting, say so plainly, then compare which one produces more signed retainers.

How do you protect conflict checks when both spouses may contact you?

Ask for names before details. What a prospective client tells your firm can stop it from representing the other spouse, so forms, chat and first calls should collect only what a conflict check needs.

Divorce is the practice area where both sides most often contact the same local firms, and some spouses reach out to several lawyers early. ABA Model Rule 1.18 treats anyone who talks with a lawyer about possibly hiring them as a prospective client, limits how the firm may use what they share, and can disqualify the firm from the other side if it learned something significantly harmful. The rule’s exceptions turn partly on whether the lawyer took reasonable steps to avoid learning more than was needed to decide whether to take the case.

• Ask for the other spouse’s name and the county first on every form, and keep the message box short.
• Tell people on the form not to share details of their situation yet.
• Run the check before the first meeting and before anyone reads a long message.
• Make sure chat tools and after-hours answering follow the same order.

This is general information, not legal advice. State versions of Rule 1.18 differ, so confirm the details with your state bar.

How should a divorce firm handle reviews from the other side?

Expect occasional negative reviews from opposing spouses, and reply without confirming anything about any case. Report reviews you believe break the platform’s rules, keep asking your own clients steadily, and never argue in public.

In divorce, the person most upset with your work is often not your client. A former spouse or their relatives may leave a one-star review describing how you represented someone else. A reply that corrects the record usually reveals more than it should, and client confidentiality applies to public replies too.

A short, neutral reply works better. Thank the reader, say the firm does not discuss any matter in public, and give the office number. Then report reviews that look like conflicts of interest or harassment through your Google Business Profile, and let a steady flow of genuine client reviews outweigh the rest.

• Ask for reviews when the matter ends, not while a custody dispute is still live.
• Ask every client the same way, since asking only the happy ones can break platform rules.
• Read your state’s guidance on confidentiality before replying to any review that mentions a case.

Which referral sources send divorce cases, and how do you track them?

Therapists, accountants, financial advisors, mediators, other lawyers and past clients send many of the best divorce cases. Track each source by name, and do not pay for recommendations, which ABA Model Rule 7.2(b) and state versions prohibit with narrow exceptions.

Referred divorce clients are often the higher-value ones, because the people who see a marriage ending up close, such as a therapist or the family’s accountant, also see the assets at stake. Estate planning lawyers, criminal defense lawyers handling domestic matters and mediators who need consulting counsel are steady sources too.

Rule 7.2 bars giving anything of value for recommending a lawyer. Its exceptions include reciprocal referral agreements with another lawyer or a nonlawyer professional, if the agreement is not exclusive and the client is told about it, and nominal thank-you gifts that are not meant as payment. Check your state’s version before formalizing any arrangement.

• Record the referrer’s name on every intake record, not just the word referral.
• Report signed retainers and fees by referrer each quarter.
• Run search ads on your own firm name, since referred people look you up before calling and other firms can bid on your name.

Does divorce lawyer advertising on TV, radio and billboards still work?

It can build the name recognition that makes people choose you when they finally search, but it rarely produces calls on its own. Measure it through searches for your firm name, dedicated phone numbers and short web addresses.

Broadcast and streaming TV, radio and billboards reach people in the considering stage, long before they type anything. The effect shows up later as more searches for your firm’s name and more callers who say they saw you somewhere. Treat it as a brand budget, funded after search, reviews and referrals are working.

• Give each offline campaign its own tracking number and a short web address.
• Watch searches for your firm name before, during and after each flight.
• Ask every new client where they first heard of you, and record the answer.

Tone matters more than reach. Jokes and shock get noticed, but divorce clients are anxious, and ads that mock spouses or marriage can put off the people you want. Every ad also remains subject to your state’s version of Rule 7.1, which bars false or misleading statements about a lawyer’s services.

How long does a divorce client take to sign, and how do you measure it?

Anywhere from a day to many months, depending on the stage and the case type. Group inquiries by the month they arrived and follow each group to signed retainers, so slow signers still count toward the channel that found them.

A served spouse may sign within days. Someone still considering divorce may read your articles in spring and sign in winter, from a different device, after searching your firm’s name. Judge a campaign at the end of the month and the slow, valuable cases look like failures while the quick, cheap ones look like wins.

Cohorts fix this. Take every inquiry from March, by source, and check how many signed by June, September and December. Compare cost per signed retainer by case type as well, because an uncontested campaign and a contested custody campaign will never look alike.

Superpractice does this for divorce firms. It stitches visits, calls, texts, forms and bookings into one timeline per client, lets you flip between first touch and last touch, and ranks channels by signed retainers, fees and cost per signed client rather than clicks. Your team still meets every prospect and decides who to represent. See how attribution works.

Can you market directly to people named in new divorce filings?

Only within strict limits that vary by state. ABA Model Rule 7.3 bars live person-to-person solicitation for financial gain, and states set their own rules for letters and emails to people known to need a lawyer, so check with your state bar before contacting anyone named in a filing.

Divorce filings are public in many courts, and some firms write to newly served spouses. Rule 7.3 defines solicitation as a communication aimed at a specific person the lawyer knows needs help with a particular matter. It prohibits live person-to-person solicitation when a significant motive is financial gain, with narrow exceptions, and it prohibits any solicitation of someone who has said they do not want it or that involves coercion, duress or harassment.

State rules on written solicitation can be stricter than the model rule. A letter that arrives at a shared home can also reveal a divorce to the other spouse, which can cause real harm and complaints. If you use mail at all, write it as calm, useful information about next steps, and archive each version with its mailing date.

This is general information, not legal advice. Treat your state bar’s rules and ethics opinions as the authority.

Frequently asked questions