Divorce costs

How much does it cost to get divorced in England?

The cost of a divorce application in England is currently £593. Applying to end a civil partnership also costs the same amount. This also covers the cost of the later applications in the divorce process, such as a conditional order and a final order.  

Divorce lawyers' fees will be charged separately. For the divorce proceedings, our firm's fees are usually in the region of £1,500 - £2,000 plus VAT.

The divorce is usually a straightforward process (How do I get divorced in England?), but the costs will obviously be higher if the spouse against whom the divorce application is made disputes it, either by saying that English court does not have jurisdiction to deal with the divorce (Can I get divorced in England?) or by disputing the validity of the marriage. More complex proceedings are necessarily more expensive.

The court will not usually make costs orders about the costs of divorce (i.e. it will not order one spouse to pay the other's costs). It will instead be left to each spouse to pay their own costs, but whether these in practice come from one spouse's funds or from joint funds will depend on how the spouses' finances were set up during the marriage and whether there have been any agreements about how each spouse is to meet their outgoings (including legal fees) until the divorce is finalised.

Any separate financial and/or children proceedings will also incur separate costs. Given such proceedings tend to be more expensive, there are sometimes various funding options available, and it may in certain circumstances be possible to obtain an order that your spouse pay your legal costs on an ongoing basis. Cost orders after the event (i.e. where a spouse has paid their own costs on an ongoing basis but subsequently seeks 'reimbursement' from the other spouse) are not usually made, but this depends on the specific type of application and other factors, including the way that each spouse conducted themselves during the proceedings.