Increase To Court Fees – Higher Costs For Divorce And Family Law Applications

In April 2025 there will be a round of fee increases in relation to the HMCTS court fees. The extra funding will help improve service delivery and subsiding the cost of free services providing by the Court. The rationale is that it will be minimise the cost to the taxpayer. In respect of family fees, the full list of fees can be found here, but in summary the main changes are:

• Divorce/dissolution application will now cost £612 (from £593)
• Child arrangements order will now cost £263 (from £255)
• Application under Schedule 1 of the Children Act will now cost £263 (from £255)
• Application for a financial remedy order will now cost £313 (from £303)
• Application for a financial remedy order by consent will now cost £60 (from £58)

Of course, this increase will put added financial pressure on applicants and could act as a deterrent to commencing proceedings. Whilst it will serve as an incentive to consider other forms of dispute resolution (or ‘NCDR’ – not court dispute resolution) such as mediation and arbitration, which will take off the pressure of an already overloaded Court system, some people already feel that the divorce application is already disproportionately high given the digitised system and introduction of no fault divorce and there is no NCRD alternative for a divorce, save for remaining in the marriage/civil partnership.

If you need advice on how these fee changes may affect your case, our expert family law team is here to help. Get in touch with us today to discuss your options. Call 0330 822 3451 or request a callback.