If you’ve been researching divorce in England and Wales, you may have already come across one particularly bad piece of news: you’ll need to pay a fee to the court – and it can be as much as £550! There is some good news, however: it’s possible you won’t need to pay the full fee. Indeed, you may not need to pay it at all!
In order to be entitled to a reduction in these fees you’ll need to have less than £3,000 in savings or investments. This rises to £10,000 if you, or your current partner (not your spouse) are 61 or older.
Then, you’ll need to be receiving one of several state benefits or will have to be earning below a certain amount in order to be entitled to a reduction:
List of benefits:
If you receive one of the following benefits, you won’t need to pay the full £550 when filing for a divorce:
Sadly, as the Ministry of Justice no longer confirms how much applicants will need to pay in accordance with their circumstances, we cannot confirm how much you will need to pay if you’re in receipt of one. Previously, though, applicants in receipt of any of these benefits (with the exception of Universal Credit which was not available at the time) were exempt from paying the court fee altogether and we’d assume that this is still the case.
Monthly income:
If you do not receive any of the benefits listed above, you can have the fee waived entirely if your monthly earnings, before tax, are below a certain amount.
If you earn less than £1,085 a month before tax, you’ll be entitled to help with these fees. This figure increases to £1,245 if you live with a partner (though you’ll also need to include their monthly income in your earnings) and by £245 for each dependent child you have. For example, if you lived with your partner and your three dependent children, you would not need to pay any court fees if your monthly earnings before tax were less than £1,980 each month.
If you earn more:
In the event that you earn more than this, you will still be able to have your court fee reduced if you earn less than £5,085 each month. Again, this figure increases to £5,245 if you live with a partner and by £245 for each dependent child that lives with you.
You can then determine how much you’ll need to pay by taking your actual monthly income, deducting the flat rate mentioned in the previous section (i.e. £1,085, £1,245 if living with a partner etc.) from your monthly income, rounding the resulting figure down to the nearest £10 (i.e. £246 would become £240) and then dividing this by two.
So, if you lived without a partner and two children and earnt £2,300 per month before tax, you’d use the following formula:
£2,300 minus £1,575 = £725 (rounded down to £720 and divided by 2) = £360
What you’ll need to do
If you think you’re entitled to help with the court fees for divorce, you’ll need to complete an ex160 form (which you can download from here) and send this to the court along with your Divorce Petition. The courts will then contact you and confirm the fee you’ll need to pay.
How you can save more money on your divorce
By using an online divorce provider such as Quickie Divorce, you could save even more money on your divorce. Get in touch with us by clicking here today.
‘How do you get divorced?’ is one the most common divorce-related queries typed into search engines with hundreds of people looking it up every day. As a result, we thought we’d answer it and dispel a few common myths in the process.
You go through a legal process
In order for a married couple to become divorced, a formal request must be submitted to the court. Whilst it is possible for one spouse to obtain a divorce without the other’s knowledge (specifically when they have no knowledge of their spouse’s current whereabouts in spite of them having tried to locate them) but it is not possible for a divorce to be obtained without the relevant legal processes having been observed; ever.
It is surprisingly common for people to assume that they and their spouse are automatically divorce following them having been separated for five years or more. This, however, is simply untrue and, when you think about it, the reason why becomes obvious: how could a divorce be issued when the institution that grants them were unaware of the fact that the couple had separated? It just wouldn’t make sense.
The legal process is almost exclusively correspondence-based
Again, many people presume that they’ll need to stand before a judge and inform them of why they believe they should be granted a divorce. Instead, the process is moved along via the completion and submission of documentation (unless it’s contested, that is).
In terms of dividing assets, this too is usually dealt with via paperwork as most couples agree a settlement out of court. They may both find themselves before a judge if they’re unable to, but this is technically separate to the divorce process and it is in fact possible to obtain a divorce without an agreement being in place – it’s just not something we or anyone in the know would recommend.
You also don’t need to agree arrangements for your children
This is one that surprises many people but, whilst we’d strongly advise people to agree any new childcare arrangements before filing for a divorce, the courts no longer even enquire as to whether there are any children who will be affected by the divorce, let alone whether arrangements are in place for them.
Previously, the courts would check the arrangements divorcing parents had in place and would prevent them from separating if they believed that they were not adequate but this stopped several years ago.
You can get divorced without spending a penny
It may be unlikely (and, again, it’s not something we’d recommend) but if you’re happy to complete the forms yourself and you’re entitled to a full fee remission (this is dependent upon your earnings, savings and any benefits you may receive) then you can get divorced without spending a penny.
As we’ve said, we wouldn’t recommend this, though. The courts can be very pernickety and, if there’s a mistake on any of the documentation (and this is more common than you might think) then you’ll be required to pay an amendment fee each time you submit new documents. This fee is in excess of £100 and cannot be waived meaning that pursuing a free divorce can very quickly become a false economy.
Couples that choose to spend more on their weddings are more likely to divorce than those that opt for a more frugal day, a study has revealed.
The research was conducted by economics professors Francis-Tan and Hugo M Mialon who studied the information of 3,000 married or previously married couples located in the United States. They discovered that there was a direct relationship between the amount a couple spent on their wedding and an increased likelihood of them going on to divorce.
In terms of raw figures, couples that spent more than $20,000 on their wedding were 1.6 times more likely to divorce than couples that spent between $5,000 and $10,000. Couples that spent less than $1,000 on their wedding also reported divorce rates that were significantly lower than the national average.
Researchers also observed a correlation between the cost of an engagement ring and the length of the ensuing marriage: the more expensive the ring, the shorter the marriage. Interestingly, though, the opposite was true of honeymoons: the more a couple spent on their post-wedding holiday, the more likely it was that their marriage would last.
On top of this, the study also revealed that the likelihood of a couple divorcing increased significantly when a large number of guests attended their big day. Couples who had more than 200 guests at their wedding were 92% more likely to get divorced when compared to the national average.
Are couples compensating?
The study’s authors put forward several potential explanations for this trend – from increased financial pressure caused by debt resulting in stress and an unhappy marriage to the possibility of more affluent individuals finding the prospect of divorce to be less dauting due to them possessing sufficient resources. The explanation that we at Quickie Divorce believe to be most likely, however, is that the couple in question are more concerned about their wedding than their marriage.
Ultimately, the money a couple spend on a wedding is for their guests rather than for the couple themselves and lavish spending could suggest that they are more concerned with impressing others than they are caring for one another. The fact that the likelihood of a couple divorcing increases when a large number of guests attends their wedding but decreases when they spend more on their honeymoon – with their first holiday as a married couple being more centred on the couple themselves – supports this argument.
What do you think? Why are couples that have more lavish weddings more likely to divorce? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Are you looking for more information on how to get a divorce? Get in touch with our advisers today!
Modern life, it would seem, is bereft of pitfalls that consistently afflict us all: we eat too much sugar and fat; we spend too much time on our electronic devices; we don’t get enough exercise; we work too hard and so on. Correct or not, the general consensus seems to suggest that our lifestyle choices are persistently having an adverse effect on our quality of life and that, by making a few positive changes we’d all enjoy better health, be more productive and even find it easier to maintain relationships. This has led some married couples to take drastic action.
One of the most common arguments put forward with regards to our ‘unhealthy’ modern lifestyles is that we don’t get enough sleep. In response, numerous married couples are opting to sleep in separate rooms, with such couples being colloquially deemed to have had a ‘sleep divorce’. It’s a trend that’s so popular that a 2010 study conducted by The National Sleep Foundation found that almost a quarter of married American couples opted to sleep in separate rooms. But will this benefit couples that’re unhappy with their marriages?
Naturally, a better night’s sleep is not going to resolve a rift brought about by infidelity or dishonesty. Nor, for that matter, is it likely to help with disagreements over money, extended family or how to raise children. If sharing a bed is having a negative impact on one or both party’s sleeping patterns, however, then it’s entirely possible that sleeping in separate beds will help both get a good night’s sleep. This, in turn, should result in both being happier and this should positively impact on their relationship.
As we’ve alluded to previously, however, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to claim that this is little more than a solution to a very specific problem. It’s also feasible that consistently failing to get enough sleep could negatively affect a marriage, however, and that, as getting more sleep should result in the parties being happier and healthier, this should go a long way towards resolving any marital discord that may be present
On the other hand, sleeping in separate rooms can bring significant stigma (many will view it as a separation) although this isn’t going to a problem if you keep the arrangements private. Logistics can also prove to be an issue if the family home doesn’t have a spare room. This can be overcome by having two separate beds in the same room, but this all but negates any possibility of keeping the arrangement private.
Ultimately, the likelihood of a sleep divorce having a positive effect on a relationship is something that is best determined by a couple themselves.
Have you and your spouse decided that it’s time to call it a day? Save yourself thousands of pounds in solicitors’ fees by contacting Quickie Divorce today.
Our homes are nigh-on always our most valuable and vital possession. As a result, when a couple separates, should one spouse remain in the matrimonial home, they’re often overly keen to protect it from their husband/wife. As a result, Quickie Divorce are frequently asked whether or not the remaining party can change the property’s locks and prevent their spouse from returning. The short answer is no, but there’s more to it than that. We’ll begin by discussing the reasons why you simply cannot immediately change the locks and prevent your spouse from accessing the matrimonial home.
The first thing to note is that matrimonial homes are generally held in joint names. As a result, should one party opt to change the locks, the other party is well within their rights to hire a locksmith in order to regain access to the property. In the unlikely event that the property is held in only one spouse’s name then, whether it is owned or rented, they still have a reasonable claim to access if they have lived there previously, though they’ll have to seek a court order.
If you do want to change the locks, you’ll need to obtain sole ownership of the property and get your spouse to forego any right they may have to it beforehand. The most logical way to do this is to arrive at an agreement with your spouse and then finalise this via a consent order which you can file with the court either after you’ve obtained a separation agreement or after you’ve filed for divorce and have received your Decree Nisi. Once such an agreement has been reached, however, it’s unlikely that you’ll deem it necessary to change the locks as, due to the agreement, your spouse will have foregone any claim they have to the property and could, if necessary, be held in contempt of court if they refused to return their keys to you as a result.
If there has been domestic violence
If you’ve been the victim of domestic violence and you believe your spouse represents a threat to you, your children, or anyone else that lives at the property, then you can obtain an Occupation Order from the courts. Such an order states which spouse has the right to reside in the family home and can, if the courts deem it necessary, include a provision designed to keep the offending party away from the home by affording the police power of arrest if the order is breached.
If you are a victim of domestic violence, you may be entitled to Legal Aid and help with your legal fees. Click here to find out how to contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau for more information.
With wages having been depressed for more than a decade now, people are regularly looking to save money wherever possible – divorces included.
Long deemed to be the exclusive preserve of the legal professional, Divorce Petitions and other documents needed to dissolve a marriage are regularly being completed and submitted to the courts by everyone from builders to supermarket employees. But what costs are they likely to accrue and what is the likelihood of their application succeeding?
In terms of costs, the filing fee for divorce is £550 though it is possible to have this reduced or possibly even waived completely. Provided an application is completely free of errors and the divorce is straightforward, this should be the only fee anyone is required to pay. As I’m sure you can imagine, however, mistakes are commonplace and can have significant financial ramifications.
Firstly, there are fees in excess of £100 to submit amended documents and, believe us, errors are far more common than you may think, particularly when it comes to providing information concerning marriage certificates. It’s also not unheard of for uncontested divorces to become contested as a result of the Respondent deciding that they’re no longer willing to admit to adultery. In the worst case, this can prevent the divorce from proceeding with the court fee being wasted as a result.
Additionally, extra costs may be accrued if the Respondent does not return documentation to the court but their spouse has filed on one of the grounds where consent is not technically required (unreasonable behaviour or five-year separation). Under these circumstances, the applicant can pay for a bailiff to attend the Respondent’s home and deliver the relevant documentation for a cost of £40 and the divorce will be able to proceed as normal.
All of these potential costs pale in comparison to those you could face if you fail to obtain a formal and legally binding order finalising the division of your and your spouse’s joint assets, however. By filing a Consent Order before or within six months of a divorce being finalised, divorcees can make any agreement regarding the division of assets legally binding and prevent either party from making a claim against the other in the future. If this order is not obtained, a claim can be brought at any time and either spouse could find themselves needing to pay out a vast sum of money to the other at any time.
Whilst many assume that a divorce will completely dissolve the monetary ties that exist between spouses, this is simply not the case and the important of obtaining a Consent Order cannot be understated as a result.
To find out more about divorce, including Consent Orders, get in touch with Quickie Divorce’s advisers today.
The fact that the courts charge a fee of £550 when someone files for a divorce is, unsurprisingly, a huge bugbear for many. After all, the courts hardly make it clear what people will be getting for their money; so much so that many people assume that this fee will entitle them to help with their forms, assistance when negotiating a financial settlement etc. In truth, this fee pays for very little. A review of the required documents and a few minutes of a judge’s time are, ultimately, all that payees receive in exchange for their hard-earned cash.
With the fee in question often larger than that which people would pay an online divorce provider like Quickie Divorce, those that know what they’ll receive in exchange for their fee consistently deem it to be unreasonable. Others will find themselves frustrated when they discover that, in spite of them having paid several hundred pounds to the court, they will receive no assistance in exchange.
Ultimately, the UK’s government claims that this fee is required so that the courts can cover the costs they accrue handling each divorce application. This, though, is widely disputed and reputable sources such as the Ministry of Justice have claimed that this fee is actually being used as a means of generating money, something which is supported by the fact that the fee payable to the court when filing for divorce has risen substantially over the past decade.
Prior to the 21st March 2016, the court fee concerning divorce applications stood at £410 and had been just £340 prior to this. The £340 fee was introduced in January 2006 with it previously having been £240. As a result, the fee payable to the court when filing for a divorce has more than doubled in just over a decade – well above the rate of inflation.
What makes this even more irksome is the fact that it’s estimated – again by the Ministry of Justice – that the actual costs of administering a divorce is just £270. This means that, if we were to set aside the losses they’ll make as a result of some applicants being entitled to fee remissions and reductions, the courts generate a profit of £280 with every divorce application they receive. In 2016, 107,071 divorces were processed meaning that profits of almost £30 million were generated for the courts. Considering that the fee is payable at the start of the process and that many people don’t go on to finalise their divorces, thus reducing the courts workload, it’s likely that the profits generated by divorce were even higher.
So, why do you pay £550 to the courts when filing for a divorce? To add more money to the nation’s treasury!
If you’re looking for a low-cost divorce solution, get in touch with Quickie Divorce and find out how we can help you today.
Every time a couple gets a divorce, they need to divide their joint assets. Things like property, cars, pensions etc. all need to be considered and the couple must either reach an agreement or, if they find that they cannot, head to court and let a judge decide who gets what.
Whilst most couples will be able to successfully negotiate an agreement, though, fear of the courts needing to become involved, combined with an inaccurate assumption of how the grounds for divorce will affect a judge’s ruling, prevent many from filing for divorce before they and their spouse have been living separately for more than two years. Though it’s understandable that people tend to assume that their spouse will be treated more favourably in court if they’ve accepted responsibility for the breakdown of the marriage, this is not the case.
Settlements that have been affected by the behaviour of a spouse are not unheard of, but only when their behaviour has directly and adversely influenced the couple’s financial situation. Such incidents are rare, however, and are not influenced by the grounds for divorce, but rather evidence submitted because of the need for the courts to rule on a settlement, only. Information present in a divorce petition or any other piece of documentation that must be filed as part of the divorce procedure has, to our knowledge, never been used as evidence in order to leverage a larger share of a couple’s joint assets.
Ultimately, legislators have recognised that apportioning absolute blame on one spouse is a hugely problematic task and this is why the grounds for divorce have no bearing on financial rulings. Perhaps this might seem unfair or odd. Shouldn’t a spouse that commits adultery suffer adverse effects as a result? Isn’t it only reasonable that a spouse that behaved unreasonably receives a lesser share of a couple’s joint assets? Perhaps, but it’s worth remembering that only one party can file and that only one can take the blame. To put it another way, a Divorce Petition alone does not prove that the party in question was solely responsible for the end of the marriage and, proving who was would be too time-consuming and expensive for it to be something a court could ever practicably rule on.
So, if you’ve not yet pursued a divorce because you’re concerned about the grounds affecting your settlement, don’t!
If within 30 days of purchase, you find another UK online divorce product that offers the same quality of service and support as ours, for a lower cost, we will give you a no-quibble 100% refund - GUARANTEED!