Wales Divorce Filing Fee and Fee Waiver (EX160)

The Standard Filing Fee Is £628

As of 13 July 2026, the court fee to file a divorce application in England and Wales is £628. This increased from £612 as part of HMCTS's annual inflationary fee adjustment. The fee covers the entire administrative process from filing through to the final order — there is no separate charge for the conditional order or the final order application.

The £628 is non-refundable once the court issues your application. If an application is not issued because of an administrative problem, contact HMCTS about how any payment is handled. Once the case number is assigned and the 20-week reflection clock starts, the fee is spent.

Other Fees You Might Encounter

The filing fee is the big one, but other costs can arise depending on your circumstances:

• Financial consent order (Form D81): £62 — needed to make your agreed financial settlement legally binding
• Contested financial remedy (Form A): £321 — if you cannot agree on finances and need the court to decide
• Court bailiff service (Form D89): £47 — if the respondent avoids the divorce papers and you need physical delivery
• Answer to contest (Form D8B): £240 — paid by a respondent who wants to dispute jurisdiction or validity
• Amended application: £61 — to correct errors on an already-issued application
• General application (Form D11): £195 on notice, £62 by consent — used for alternative or deemed service

The Help with Fees Scheme (Form EX160)

If your income or savings are low enough, you can apply to have the £628 fee reduced or eliminated entirely. The application is Form EX160, submitted alongside your divorce application. The scheme uses a two-stage test.

Stage 1 — Capital. Your disposable capital (savings, investments, shares, second properties) must fall below a threshold. Your primary home, pension pots, and tools of trade are excluded. For court fees under £1,420 (which includes the divorce fee):

• Under age 66: less than £4,250 in disposable capital
• Aged 66 or older: less than £16,000

If you exceed these limits, you pay the full fee regardless of income.

Stage 2 — Income. If you pass the capital test, the court looks at your gross monthly income. You qualify for a full fee remission if you receive certain means-tested benefits (Income Support, income-based JSA, income-related ESA, Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit), or Universal Credit with gross annual earnings under £6,000).

If you do not receive those benefits, the income thresholds are:

• Single applicant: £1,420 or less per month
• Couple: £2,130 or less combined per month
• Each child aged 0–13 adds £425 to the threshold
• Each child aged 14+ adds £710

If your income exceeds the threshold but not by much, you may qualify for a partial remission — you pay a portion of the fee on a sliding scale.

The Joint-Application Trap

This catches people off guard. In a joint divorce application, both spouses must independently qualify for fee remission. Both must submit separate EX160 forms. If one spouse does not qualify — because their savings exceed £4,250, for example — the fee remission is refused for the entire application. The filing party must then pay the full £628 upfront and sort out cost-sharing privately.

If you are considering a joint application partly to split the fee, check that both of you qualify for Help with Fees before filing. If only one spouse qualifies, a sole application may be the better route — the sole applicant can claim the full remission on their own.

Timing Matters

Apply for Help with Fees before or at the same time as your divorce application. If you pay the full fee first and then try to claim a waiver retrospectively, the process becomes significantly more difficult and the outcome is not guaranteed.

The Wales Divorce Filing Process Guide includes an EX160 preparation worksheet that walks you through both the capital and income tests before you submit — so you know whether you qualify and can gather the right documentation in advance.

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