Applying for a Divorce in the UK: Understanding the Divorce Fee

Separating couples filing for a divorce in the UK, often find it hard to understand the structure of the fee involved in the process, getting confused by different aspects of it.

You’ll hear people say if £550 is the standard court fee for a divorce process, then why is it that couples pay thousands in pounds to get their divorce over the line? If divorce can be sought for £550, then why even hire and pay a solicitor? If the standard court fee is £550, then why do UK courts sometimes charge an additional fee; where does that additional fee come from?

If you’re a UK citizen filing a divorce petition in the UK court, and you too can’t seem to understand all the nitty gritties associated with the divorce fee, you’ve come to the right place.

In this post, we will breakdown the divorce fee for you, so that you can have a better idea of the financials involved in getting a divorce.

So, let’s start with the “£550” figure that seems to confuse so many of us.

When you file a divorce petition in court, to process and administer the paperwork, the court requires you to pay £550 in fee. This includes the charges for posting the petition to your partner, allotting your divorce a case number and allocating a judge to oversee your divorce proceedings.

And that’s all about it.

You’ll have to fill the divorce forms by yourself, arrange all the necessary documents by yourself, if there’s a dispute between you and your partner over some matter – you’ll have to resolve it all by yourself.

Only when you’re done with all this stuff, you’ll then approach the court, file the petition and pay the fee.

If you decide to seek professional help in any of the above cases, the fee will add up.

Usually, couples hire solicitors to help them in the process.

A family law solicitor will help you fill and file the divorce forms, arrange the supporting documents and resolve any outstanding dispute that may exist between you and your partner. For this, the solicitor will charge you a fee, which varies from solicitor to solicitor and from case to case.

Sometimes, couples may agree and settle on disputes by mutual understanding without feeling the need to hire a solicitor. In that case, they need to provide the court with the documents that everything has indeed been agreed between them.

This includes application for consent order, application for a child’s arrangement order etc., etc.

For each of these additional applications, the court will charge you additional fee. The application for a consent order is processed at £50. Application for a child’s arrangement order is processed at £215 and so on.

If you want the court to help you reach a settlement, there are separate charges for it.

And this all add up to your final divorce fee.

Do you have any other questions about the divorce process in the UK or need any sort of assistance in filing a divorce petition in the UK? Feel free to reach out; our UK family law experts will be happy to serve you.

For additional reading: Mistakes that can jeopardise your divorce, Dealing with debt after divorce, 3 simple ways to protect yourself in a divorce, Post divorce: Who gets the child custody