Divorce and Consent Order fees to rise

The Ministry of Justice have announced that there could be an increase in the divorce application court fee and the Consent Order fee.

Fees for divorce proceedings will increase from £410 to £550

Fees for general applications in civil proceedings will increase from £50 to £100 for an application by consent, and from £155 to £255 for a contested application.

Applications such as injunctions for protection from harassment or violence will be excluded from any increase

The ministry said it will also make the remissions scheme ‘more generous’. It will increase the amount of disposable capital those who need to pay a larger court fee are allowed to have to qualify for remission.

It will consider whether other forms of payment or benefit should be excluded from the disposable capital test.

The MoJ is holding a consultation on the proposed increases - you can add your views here - consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communica...sultation/intro/view

I will be submitting a response on behalf of Wikivorce, your thoughts and views will form the bulk of the consultation, and I would be very grateful if you could post your thoughts and views below.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Will it mean that more couples will be unable to afford to divorce; even if they are doing a "DIY" divorce themselves?

Does an administration fee of £550 represent good value for money?

From the Independent newspaper last year, when a proposed rise to £750 was heavily critisied:

The true cost of an uncontested Petition is only £270 – meaning the Government already makes an estimated £16.8m profit out of divorce – but the Ministry of Justice argued in a consultation last year that couples “would be prepared to pay a higher fee to complete the dissolution of the marriage”.

It''s difficult to say something is value for money if there is no choice. If you want/need a divorce that is the fee.

What seems disproportionate is the cost compared to the legal costs involved in getting married.

If you just want to give notice and have the most basic wedding to comply with the law it costs far less.