Government's Plans To Increase Divorce Fees Abandoned

On the 6th of March this year, we wrote about the government’s plans to increase the fee for filing a divorce petition with the Court to £750 which is over 1 ½ times more than the current fee of £410.

Currently, an uncontested divorce only costs the courts £270, so the government makes a £140 profit on each divorce petition issued (approximately £16.8 million per year). Therefore, there seems to be no justification for increasing the fee especially given that so many people are already struggling to meet the current divorce fees.

Fortunately, the government has announced that these plans have been abandoned. This is no doubt because of the overwhelming criticism received by not only members of the public but by professionals and even the Judiciary of England and Wales who described the plans as a “significant impediment to access to justice”.