Calls are growing for HM Courts & Tribunals Service to slash the \u00a3593 divorce fee given the process will be online and quicker under reforms coming into force next month.<\/p>\n
A new digital service accommodating ‘no-fault’ provisions under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act will be introduced on 6 April. The process is expected to be quicker – however, the \u00a3593 fee to file an application for a divorce will remain unchanged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Discussing the changes at a webinar hosted by co-parenting service Our Family Wizard, David Hodson, a member of the Law Society’s family law committee, said\u00a0it was a \u2018scandal\u2019 that the fee has not been reduced. \u2018That\u2019s fine if a judge is going to spend time on it and there\u2019s paper. For an online process, [it\u2019s an] absolute scandal and should be reduced,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
The Gazette<\/em> asked other family lawyers, who concur.<\/p>\n Emma Nash, a family partner at Fletcher Day, said: ‘\u00a3593 is a lot to pay to get divorced. For some people, it is prohibitively high. It is now even more difficult to see how this fee can be justified as the divorce process has moved online cutting down the work that needs to be done by court staff and judges to review and process the petitions.<\/p>\n ‘When the [act] comes into force from 6 April the process will become even simpler as there will be no need to consider evidence of fault or separation and there will be no option for divorces to be defended. These changes should be reflected in a more appropriate, lower fee.’<\/p>\n David Lister, head of family law at Simpson Millar, said many court users consider the fee increase an unwelcome change in light of delays in the court system. ‘There is a shortage of judges, waiting times are growing and those families affected by rising costs of living will now be put under even more pressure when separating, just as no-fault divorce comes into place and the system is supposed to be making separation less stressful,’ he said.<\/p>\n Tony Roe, solicitor and family law arbitrator at Dexter Montague, raised a Freedom of Information request with HM Courts & Tribunals Service about the \u2018true, underlying cost\u2019 of the divorce process. \u2018[HMCTS] failed to answer it, but it is thought that it is less than half the issue fee. The new process is simplified, and this should result in a cut in the court fee,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Justice increased the application fee from \u00a3410 to \u00a3550 in 2016<\/a><\/strong>. It rose to \u00a3593 in 2021<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Peter Burgess, a partner at family boutique Burgess Mee Family Law, said the fee increases ‘have always felt like an arbitrary attempt to extract more from people going through a difficult period, and it is hard to see them coming back down again despite the welcome reform to the system to make it more streamlined and less acrimonious’.<\/p>\n Vanessa Friend, a partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, said the court system was chronically underfunded ‘and it is very unlikely that HMCTS could fill the gap in their budget left by a reduction in fees’. While the court fee will remain the same, ‘my hope is that clients will save money on legal fees as they will no longer be negotiating over the\u00a0content of the\u00a0petition’, she said.<\/p>\n However, Natalie Lester, a senior solicitor in the family team at Debenhams Ottoway, said she was not opposed to the recent court fee increase.<\/p>\n ‘The divorce process has been online since 2019. During my practise in family law since 2010, I have seen a number of increases in the divorce court fee. Whilst there have been very significant delays with HM Revenue & Customs in relation to contested proceedings, the online divorce process for straightforward matters has become speedier, easier and more accessible to the public. Parties on a low income or those who receive certain benefits may be eligible to apply for a fee exemption which means they are exempt from all or part of the fee,’ she said.<\/p>\n The current divorce service will be switched off<\/a><\/strong> on 31 March.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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