We arrange for you to have an initial phone consultation with a divorce solicitor, to provide you with legal advice and to enable us to get the information we need to start the divorce process for you or to respond to divorce proceedings.
Using the information you provide, we will then prepare the necessary court documents and process the divorce for you from start to finish, and we’ll keep you fully updated every step of the way.
Are you starting divorce proceedings?
If you’re starting divorce proceedings against your spouse, this means you’re the applicant. This means you’re responsible for completing and submitting the divorce application, which we will do on your behalf as part of our fixed fee service.
For applicants, our fixed fee divorce service costs from £750, providing both people agree to the divorce. In addition to our fee, you’ll also need to pay a court fee of £593.
The court fee is payable upfront, along with our full fee. If you are on a low income, you may be eligible for help with court fees. For more information, visit GOV.uk.
These are the costs to legally end your marriage. There may be additional costs to resolve any matters to do with finances, assets or children. This can vary depending on the case, and we can discuss your options with you once you start divorce proceedings with us.
If you’d like to discuss your options before starting your divorce, we offer a 30 minute consultation with a family law solicitor.
Are you responding to divorce proceedings?
If your spouse has issued divorce proceedings against you, this means you’re the respondent. This means you’ll receive the completed divorce application once this has been issued by the court.
For respondents, our fixed fee divorce service costs from £450. This fee is payable upfront. There is no court fee to pay if you are the respondent.
If you’d like to discuss your options before starting your divorce, we offer a 30 minute consultation with a family law solicitor.
Get a 30 minute consultation
To help you clearly understand your legal position, book a telephone appointment with a family law solicitor for a comprehensive consultation.
Consultations are usually available on the same day or the next working day. The fixed fee for a detailed and comprehensive telephone consultation with a family law solicitor is £120 including VAT.
If you then decide to take out one of our hourly rate family law services, the consultation fee will be deducted from your final bill.
How much does a divorce cost?
We offer fixed rates for divorce services in the UK. Our fixed fee divorce service provides you with a divorce solicitor to take you through the usual steps in the divorce process to end your marriage.
We have two fixed price options, depending on whether you’re making the divorce application or responding to a divorce application.
How much does divorce cost for applicants?
If you are the person applying for the divorce, this means you are the applicant. For applicants, our fixed fee divorce service costs £750.
If you are the applicant, please note that in addition to our fixed fee, a court fee of £593 is payable directly to the court where you apply for divorce. The court fee has to be paid regardless of how you start your divorce, whether you use a divorce lawyer or how your divorce is dealt with.
How much does divorce cost for respondents?
If your spouse has made an application for divorce which you are responding to, this means your are the respondent. For respondents, our fixed fee divorce service costs £400.
The respondent does not need to pay a court fee in addition to this fixed fee.
Does the applicant always pay the cost of divorce?
The applicant is responsible for paying the court fees and their own solicitor fees. In some cases, the applicant may be able to recoup some of these costs from the respondent. If an amicable agreement can’t be reached, a court hearing may be needed (which would incur additional costs on both sides).
If you are the respondent and your ex is claiming divorce costs from you, you’ll need to decide whether you agree to contribute to these costs. If you choose to defend a claim for costs, it is likely to be addressed at a court hearing. We would always recommend seeking independent advice from a divorce solicitor.
If you are in financial difficulty or unable to raise the funds to start divorce proceedings, there may be other options available to you. Individuals on a low income or certain benefits may be eligible for help with Court and tribunal fees. Information can be found on GOV.uk, or you can speak to your divorce solicitor.
For complex divorce cases, our fixed hourly divorce solicitor fee starts from £210 per hour.
Divorce solicitors with many years of experience dealing with complex property and business issues, international divorce and high net value divorce cases are also available; the costs for these services are quoted on request.
How does divorce work – the divorce process explained
You need to have been married for at least a year before you can apply for a divorce.
There’s a lot of paperwork involved in getting a divorce, and these documents are sometimes referred to as divorce papers. Divorce papers can include the divorce application, the acknowledgement of service, the conditional order and the final order.
Step 1 – divorce application
The divorce process starts with an application to the family court, which will need to state that the relationship has irretrievably broken down. The person who submits this application is called the applicant.
Once completed, the divorce application is submitted to the court, along with the original marriage certificate. If the original certificate can’t be found, a copy can be requested from the Register of Births and Deaths for a small fee.
The court will issue the application, which means they allocate it a court reference number. The court then sends the divorce application on to the other person in the marriage, who is called the respondent.
Step 2 – the acknowledgement of service
The respondent has 14 days to respond to the divorce application. This is done by completing and return a form called the acknowledgement of service to the court. This tells the court that the respondent has received the divorce application.
The respondent can’t contest the divorce unless it’s on the basis of jurisdiction.
When the court receives the signed acknowledgement of service from the respondent, they will forward this to the applicant.
Step 3 – the conditional order
Once the signed acknowledgement of service has been received, and 20 weeks have passed since the divorce application was submitted, the conditional order can be applied for. This means the court has agreed that you can end your marriage.
This is not the final order in a divorce, but it is an important step. Before divorce laws were reformed in April 2022, the conditional order was called the ‘decree nisi’.
Step 4 – the final order
Once a further 6 weeks and 1 day have passed after the conditional order was granted, the final order can be applied for. The final order legally ends your marriage.
Once the final order has been issued the divorce is final and the marriage has legally ended. Both people are then free to enter into a new marriage or civil partnership.
Once the divorce has been finalised, the finances also need to be dealt with. This is not automatically taken care of as part of the divorce process. Unless additional steps are taken, the couple will still have financial ties and one person could make a claim against the other in the future.
How long does it take to get a divorce?
If there are no complications the divorce process generally takes 6-12 months to complete depending on how busy the courts are.
Using a divorce solicitor will not affect how long the court takes to process your application, but paperwork that has been completed by a solicitor is less likely to contain errors and more likely to be accepted by the courts. This means the process could be completed more quickly with a divorce solicitor.
Important: In order to protect your financial assets, we recommend that you resolve your money matters alongside the divorce. Depending upon the circumstances of your divorce, we may recommend delaying the application for the final order until any financial issues have been resolved. Our divorce solicitors can advise you on this based on your specific financial details and circumstances.
Can a divorce be contested?
Under new divorce laws that came into force on 6 April 2022, it’s no longer possible to contest a divorce unless this is on the basis of jurisdiction. If you are applying for a divorce against the wishes of your spouse, or responding to a divorce that you don’t agree to, discuss your options with our divorce solicitors.
Divorce financial settlements
Divorce brings marriage to a legal end in England & Wales but it does not end the financial commitments between the couple. In order to end matrimonial financial commitments and to protect your finances upon divorce a financial consent order or a clean break order, is required from the court, meaning each person’s financial affairs are completely separated from each other.
Sorting out any financial issues is vital for your future and the future of your children. Our specialist team of divorce solicitors are experts in achieving fair financial settlements and dealing with uncooperative spouses.
It’s important to resolve your finances at the same time as your divorce or civil partnership dissolution.
Will I have to go to court to get a divorce?
In most circumstances, the couple will not need to appear in court during the divorce process. If there is a dispute over costs, finances or children that can’t be resolved amicably, then a court hearing may be needed, but this is uncommon.
Can a divorce be refused by a judge?
It’s unusual for a judge to deny a divorce in England and Wales, but it may be possible in some circumstances. This may happen if the judge thinks the respondent hasn’t received their divorce papers, or if the divorce is contested on the basis of jurisdiction. It’s not possible for a divorce to be contested on any other grounds.
Are there any alternatives to divorce?
Yes this is known as judicial separation and is not very common. Judicial separation is generally used by people who have a religious objection to divorce. The court retains the power to resolve money matters on judicial separation with the exception of pension sharing. The most significant difference between divorce and judicial separation is that you cannot remarry.
The court fee for judicial separation is £365.
What’s the difference between marriage and civil partnership?
You can make a prenup or a pre-registration agreement if you are getting married or entering a civil partnership. Civil partnership and marriage both offer couples the same tax allowances, property rights, pension rights and other legal rights. There are some differences in how they are entered into or ended.
| Marriage | Civil partnership |
| Marriage certificate only names the fathers | Civil partnership certificate names both parents |
| Formalised by saying vows | Formalised with a document (schedule of civil partnership) |
| Can be a civil or religious ceremony | No religious grounding |
| Open to same sex couples since 2014 (although some religions don’t recognise same sex marriage) | Originally only available to same sex couples, but became available to mixed sex couples in 2019 |
| Ended by divorce | Ended by civil partnership dissolution |
In addition, couples in a civil partnership cannot legally refer to themselves as being married.
Aside from these formalities, the day to day life of a couple in a civil partnership is likely to be much the same as it would be for a married couple.
Children in divorce or legal separation
If you are getting a divorce or facing legal separation in England or Wales, we can provide the support and reassurance you and your children need to help you make the right decisions and find a way forward. We can help you to negotiate child custody arrangements to suit the family now and in the future such as:
We can provide you with legal advice about parental resposibility and how to get it, and help you to make arrangements for the children such as help getting a Child Arrangement Order to deal with child contact or residence issues.
Our Children Law Solicitors are specialists in resolving child custody disputes in divorce, legal separation and civil partnership dissolution and can help you reach a fair and affordable outcome.
Children in divorce or legal separation – what to consider
Introduction to child custody orders
Child arrangements were formerly known as child custody. This covers the living and contact arrangements of children after the separation of their parents.
Child custody court orders in England & Wales
If you and your ex are having any child custody problems related to:
You should understand the legal options available through these court orders:
Child arrangement orders explained
Child arrangement orders were formerly called child contact and residence orders. When parents separate, they might disagree on what’s best for the children.
For example:
A child arrangement order can set out:
When dealing with a child arrangements order application, the court will take the stance that it is generally better for a child/children if a parent is involved in their lives.
Specific issue orders explained
A specific issue order can be applied for to ask the court to resolve a disagreement about any matter related to parental resposibilty. For example:
If you want to take a child that lives with you abroad this is a complex matter with extra factors that the court must consider. It could be a criminal offence to take a child out of England or Wales without the right consent or court order, so it’s important to get legal advice beforehand.
Prohibited steps orders explained
A prohibited steps order can ask the court to prevent one parent taking a particular action related to parental responsibility. For example:
Fathers’ rights to custody of children – do English courts favour mothers?
When a court decides who a child should live with after the separation or divorce of their parents, they will always put the child’s best interests first and will not automatically favour one parent over the other. A father of children living in the UK is entitled to have a say about how the children are raised and how often they see them.
In England and Wales a father will automatically have parental responsibility over a child if they are named on the birth certificate or married to the mother.
When parents cannot come to a mutual agreement about residence and childcare arrangements, the courts will make a decision on their behalf. This includes decisions about who the child should live with and how frequently they spend time with the non-resident parent.
The court will take individual circumstances into account before making a residency order, which is the court ruling on where a child will live. This can range from joint residency, where time is split equally between parents, to specific visits during weekends and holidays. Residency orders last until the child turns 16, although they can be extended in exceptional circumstances.
Matters can be complicated further if one of the parents or the child is in another country. What will need to be established at this point is which court will have jurisdiction over the welfare of the child. This could be the court in the child’s country of residence or the court in the other parent’s country of residence.
If you have a child that is being taken abroad without your consent, or if you are a parent that wants to take your child abroad with you, then our family solicitors can advise you on the best course of action.
Find out more about parental responsibility and shared parenting agreement plans.
Using a solicitor for child arrangement orders
It’s beneficial to both parents and the children if you and your ex can co-operate on arrangements for the children. It’s important to ensure that the children are not involved in conflict or arguments and that their needs are put first.
Making arrangements for children can be very emotive and you may not be able to discuss matters constructively. We offer a range of legal services including collaborative law and family mediation to help you find a sensible way forward that puts the children’s needs first and avoids the potential stress, cost and delay of court proceedings.
However if you feel you have exhausted all attempts to agree on arrangements for your children then you may need to make an application to the court which we can help you with.
You can expect our children law solicitors to:
Our fixed hourly solicitor fee for advising you and preparing the application to the court for a child arrangement order starts from £210 per hour including VAT. We will agree our solicitors fee with you upfront before any work starts.
Once we have provided you with a written quote for the agreed work, that price will not change.