The short answer
If you and your spouse agree on everything, the divorce itself is a fixed fee of £500 plus VAT (£600), plus the court fee. That fixed fee takes you from the application to the final order that legally ends your marriage.
But the divorce is only part of separating. Dividing the home, savings and pensions, and agreeing arrangements for the children, is where most of the cost lies. When couples can agree, those costs stay modest. When they cannot, and the court has to decide, the total can run into thousands, and in complex or bitterly contested cases into tens of thousands. We will always tell you honestly what to expect before you commit.
What the fixed fee covers
Our £500 plus VAT fee covers the legal work of the divorce from start to finish:
- preparing and issuing the application, whether you apply on your own or jointly with your spouse;
- dealing with the other party’s acknowledgement of the application;
- applying for the conditional order once the 20 week reflection period has passed;
- applying for the final order at least six weeks and one day after the conditional order;
- sending you the final order and explaining what it means for you.
You will know the fee before any work starts, and it does not creep up because the paperwork takes a few extra letters or phone calls.
The court fee, and help paying it
Every divorce application carries a court fee set by HM Courts & Tribunals Service. It is paid once per application, so on a joint application you can share it. If you receive certain benefits or are on a low income, you may qualify for Help with Fees, which can reduce the court fee or remove it altogether. We check this with you at the start and help you apply if you qualify.
When a divorce costs more than the fixed fee
Two situations take a divorce outside the fixed fee. The first is a contested divorce. Under the no fault rules a divorce can only be disputed on narrow grounds, such as whether the courts of England and Wales can deal with it or whether the marriage was valid, so this is now unusual. The second is where your spouse does not respond and the application has to be served personally, for example by a process server. In either case we explain the extra work and how it will be charged.
Money and property: usually the bigger cost
A divorce ends the marriage. It does not end the financial claims you and your spouse have against each other. Those stay open until the court makes a financial order, which is why we always talk about finances at the start.
If you have already agreed how to divide things, the cost is mainly drafting a consent order and having it approved by the court, often without anyone attending a hearing. If you have not agreed, costs depend on how much negotiation, mediation or court work is needed. We do not offer a fixed fee for financial matters because they vary so much, but we will give you a cost estimate before we start. Where it suits you both, a clean break order ends financial claims for good.
Arrangements for the children
Arrangements for children are dealt with separately from the divorce and are not part of the fixed fee. Most parents agree them between themselves or with the help of mediation, which costs far less than going to court. If you do need a child arrangements order, you will usually have to attend a mediation information meeting first, unless an exemption such as domestic abuse applies. We give you an estimate for any children work before it begins.
How to keep your costs down
The single biggest saving is agreement. Every issue you and your spouse can settle between you is one less thing for lawyers to argue about. A few practical steps help too: gather your financial paperwork early, reply promptly when information is requested, consider a joint application, and use mediation for anything you are stuck on. Our team includes an accredited family mediator, so we can explain whether mediation could work for you.
We also offer a fixed fee initial consultation of £150 plus VAT (£180), of up to an hour by phone, video call or in person, if you would like detailed advice before deciding how to proceed.
Legal Aid
We provide Legal Aid for both private law and public law family matters. For divorce and finances it is means tested and generally only available where there is evidence of domestic abuse or child abuse. You can check whether you may be eligible on GOV.UK, or ask our family team to look at it with you.
Sort out your finances before the final order
A final order ends the marriage but not the financial claims between you. Getting a financial order in place first protects you, and in some cases protects pension and death benefits that could otherwise be lost.
