How much does a divorce application cost in the UK?

As of April 2022, divorce in England and Wales operates on a no-fault basis, meaning there is only one ground for divorce. This is “irretrievable breakdown of relationship”. Because of this change, divorce can no longer be contested by your former spouse/respondent to the divorce. This has helped to make divorce more accessible to those that no longer wish to be married.

However, the court still requires a formal process to complete a divorce application, and this necessarily includes some costs to the court. The main cost is the divorce court fee which is paid upon submitting your application to the court. As of 1 June 2026, the court fee remains £612 for a divorce application, however this is subject to change and should be checked upon making your application to the court.

The court recognises that this fee is high and so offers a Help With Fees service for those who cannot afford the full court fee. There are set eligibility criteria the court will check upon making your application and you may be required to provide evidence to the court. This is a separate application through the government website, which is best done before you pay the court fee, but you can reclaim a court fee that has been paid within the last 3 months provided you were eligible for a Help with Fees code at the time of payment. You should consult the eligibility criteria to see if you can benefit form a Help With Fees application.

Once your court fee is paid and application is issued, your divorce needs to be served on your former spouse, so they are aware of proceedings. The court needs to receive proof that they have received the papers, commonly through your former spouse completing an acknowledgement of service upon receipt. This can incur additional cost if your former spouse does not wish to respond or engage in the court papers sent to them. While your former spouse cannot contest divorce, the court still have a duty to serve papers on them and needs proof that this has occurred. The costs of further service will depend on which method is suitable on a case-by-case basis.

A process server would hand deliver the papers to a known address or traced address of your former spouse, but are private individuals that will charge their own rates for services. The fee will depend on whether the person is resident in England and Wales or abroad, whether the person needs to be traced or searched for, and which company is used.

You may need to make a further court application for permission to serve by a different method such as social media or messaging platforms (such as WhatsApp). This will incur further court fees. The court fee for an application in divorce proceedings is currently £60 at the time of writing, but again this is subject to change.

Financial matters upon divorce are not included in the divorce application itself and as such the costs of addressing this are not included in the above fees described. For more information on the costs of financial remedies in divorce please refer to our other blog post.

Family Law Group are offering fixed fee divorces at £600 inclusive of VAT to assist in this process. This does not include disbursements, such as the court fees above.

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