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As you may or may not be aware, when applying for a divorce you may be required to pay a fee to the courts which will cover a portion of their administrative costs. In fact, these fees aren’t just payable when someone applies for a divorce, but when filing in the small claims forms, an application for contact with a child or children or an employment tribunal claim to name just a few. What, though, do the public think of these fees? Is it reasonable for individuals to pay part of the court’s costs or should they be fronted by the taxpayer? A recent survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics for the Ministry of Justice asked just that, and its findings were made public on Tuesday the 3rd December 2013. As far as divorce was concerned, 82% of those that responded either agreed or strongly agreed with the suggestion that individuals seeking a divorce should contribute to the court’s costs if they were financially able compared to just 7% who disagreed or strongly disagreed. Just over half of respondents (51%) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that individuals earning less than £15,000 a year should not need to pay any fees when making an application in a family court compared with 24% who disagreed or strongly disagreed. Additionally, 64% of respondents felt that all applicants should make some contribution towards the family courts costs and just 22% felt that the court’s fees should be met entirely by the taxpayer. Interestingly, it was respondents aged between 55 and 64 who were most likely to feel that an individual looking to divorce their spouse should contribute to the court’s costs if this was practicable with 91% agreeing with this. Contrastingly, 82% of individuals aged over 75 agreed with this statement as did 83% of those aged between 24 and 44. Additionally, and somewhat surprisingly, divorced people were more likely to agree that individuals should contribute to the court’s fees than married or single people, with 89% agreeing compared with 87% and 74% of married and single people respectively. Respondents were also asked on their opinions on a hypothetical scenario within which a 37-year-old female who earns £25,000 a year is divorcing her husband and there are no children involved. Respondents were asked whether they felt charging this individual a fee of approximately £400 or £800 was reasonable with 77% stating that the former was reasonable compared to 67% who felt the same way about the latter fee. Of those that felt the charge was not reasonable, 34% felt that £800 was too high compared with 27% who felt that £400 was not reasonable, whilst 18% of all respondents in this instance felt that it should be free to use the courts. In conclusion, it would seem that the public do, by and large, agree that fees should be paid to the courts when an individual files for a divorce and that the current fee of £410 is reasonable, though individuals should be entitled to have these fees reduced or waived under certain circumstances. Do you agree with these assessments?  Leave your opinion by sharing a comment.