How to Get a Divorce Without a Solicitor UK: Costs & Steps

Most people who want to know how to get a divorce without a solicitor are really asking two questions at once: can I actually do this myself, and what is it going to cost me? The honest answer to the first is yes, and to the second, far less than you probably fear. The court fee is £628 and that is the only part you cannot get around, though even that can be reduced or waived if money is tight.

Where it goes wrong is not the paperwork. It is what people leave undone. Thousands of couples every year complete their divorce, feel relieved, and only discover years later that their financial ties were never actually cut. This guide walks you through the whole thing: what to do first, what each stage really costs, what help is available if you cannot afford it, how to apply yourself, and the one document that stops your ex making a claim against you a decade from now.

At Mediate UK we have helped more than 23,000 people work through separation and divorce with as little conflict as possible, and we hold 715+ reviews rated 4.8/5 from the people we have worked with. Plenty of them handled the divorce paperwork themselves and came to us only for the parts that mattered most.

Can You Get a Divorce Without a Solicitor in England and Wales?

Yes. There is no legal requirement to instruct anyone. The gov.uk divorce service was rebuilt to be used by ordinary people without legal training, and the great majority of applications now go through it. A divorce without a solicitor is often called a DIY divorce, and it works well for a lot of couples.

It tends to suit you when:

• you both accept the marriage is over,
• you can still exchange basic information without it turning into a row,
• your finances are reasonably simple, so no business, no complicated pensions, no property abroad,
• you are comfortable filling in forms and keeping track of dates,
• there is no history of abuse or controlling behaviour.

It is a poor fit when any of those are missing. If you are frightened of your spouse, if you genuinely do not know what they own, or if one of you has always controlled the money, doing everything alone puts you at a disadvantage that no amount of form-filling will fix.

There is also a distinction worth holding onto, because it is where most people trip up. Getting divorced and sorting out the money are two separate processes. You can absolutely do the first yourself. The second is where support pays for itself, and that support does not have to be a solicitor on an hourly rate. Family mediation sits in between doing it entirely alone and handing the whole thing to lawyers.

What Is the First Thing to Do If You Want a Divorce?

The first thing to do is not to file anything. It is to find your marriage certificate and check you are actually eligible to apply. People often rush to the online form, get halfway through, and stall because they cannot lay their hands on the certificate.

Work through these four things in order.

1Find Your Marriage Certificate

You need the original or a certified copy, not a photocopy or a photograph. If it has gone missing, you can order a replacement from the General Register Office or the register office where you married, usually for a small fee and within a couple of weeks. If you married abroad and the certificate is not in English, you will need a certified translation as well.

2Check You Are Eligible

Three conditions have to be met before the court will accept your application:

• You have been married at least one year: you cannot apply during the first 12 months, whatever the circumstances.
• Your marriage is legally valid here: it must be recognised under the law of England and Wales. Marrying abroad does not stop you divorcing here.
• The courts here have jurisdiction: usually because at least one of you is domiciled in England or Wales, or has lived here for at least a year.

3Get a Rough Picture of the Finances

Before anything else moves, write down what exists. Property, mortgages, savings, debts, pensions on both sides, income. You do not need valuations yet, just an honest list. Doing this early is what turns a vague fear about money into a set of questions you can actually answer, and it makes any later financial disclosure far less daunting. Pensions in particular are the asset people forget, and they are often worth more than the house.

4Decide Whether to Apply Alone or Together

You can apply on your own (a sole application) or with your spouse (a joint application). Both reach the same place. Most people still apply alone: around three in four divorces granted in 2025 came from sole applications, according to the latest UK divorce statistics. This is covered in more detail further down, but it is worth deciding before you start, because switching later means extra steps.

How Much Does a Divorce Cost Without a Solicitor?

A DIY divorce in the UK costs £628, and that is the court fee. If you complete the application yourself and you and your spouse agree everything about the money between you, that is the whole bill. What sends the number up is not the divorce, it is how you settle the finances and the arrangements for the children.

Here is what the realistic routes cost per person, from cheapest to most expensive.

The gap between the top row and the bottom row is roughly fifty thousand pounds, and almost none of that difference is the divorce. It is the argument. We break the numbers down further in our guide to the realistic costs of divorce.

What Are the Court Fees in a Divorce?

Court fees rose on 13 July 2026. These are the current figures, and they apply whether or not you use a solicitor.

Figures as of August 2026, taken from the Ministry of Justice fee announcement and the fees order itself. Look at the right-hand column and you will see the point: four of the five fees only apply if something goes wrong. A couple who agree end up paying £628 and £62.

How Do You Separate When You Cannot Afford It?

This is one of the most common questions we are asked, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a shrug. Money is often the reason people stay in a marriage that has ended, and there is more help available than most people realise. There are four routes, and you may qualify for more than one.

Can You Get Help With the £628 Court Fee?

Yes. The government's Help with Fees scheme can reduce the £628 fee or remove it completely, depending on your income, your savings and whether you receive certain benefits. It is assessed on your own finances, not your household's, which matters if your spouse earns considerably more than you. You apply at the same time as your divorce, so there is no waiting around. Our guide to applying for court fee remission using the EX160 walks through the form and the evidence you need.

Can You Get Legal Aid for Family Mediation?

Legal aid for family mediation is means-tested only. Financial eligibility is the whole test. It does not depend on abuse, on the type of dispute, or on any other qualifying reason, and it was never withdrawn. If you meet the income, savings and capital rules, your first meeting and your mediation sessions are free to you.

Mediate UK is a Legal Aid Agency contracted provider for family mediation, so we can offer this directly rather than referring you elsewhere. If one of you qualifies and the other does not, the person who does not qualify can often still have their first joint session covered. The quickest way to find out is our legal aid eligibility checker, or the government's own check if you can get legal aid tool.

Can You Get Legal Aid for a Solicitor?

This is a separate scheme with a different test, and the two get confused constantly. Legal aid for a solicitor in most private family cases was withdrawn on 1 April 2013, when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act came into force. It is still available to people who come through a gateway, principally victims of domestic abuse and cases involving child safety. Getting through that gateway is not the end of it: you will need to provide evidence, and you will also need to pass the means test. Our guide to legal aid in family cases sets out the accepted evidence, which is broader than most people expect.

Can You Use the £500 Government Mediation Voucher?

If your case involves arrangements for children, you may qualify for a one-off government contribution of up to £500 towards the cost of mediation, inclusive of VAT. It is not means-tested, so your income is irrelevant. Eligibility is about the type of dispute: a case that is purely about finances does not qualify, but a case about children, or about finances where there is also a child dispute, does. The voucher does not cover the initial meeting, and only an authorised mediator can apply it on your behalf. Our explainer on the family mediation voucher scheme covers who qualifies, and the Family Mediation Council publishes the current scheme rules.

How Do You Apply for a Divorce Yourself? The 8 Steps

The whole process runs to eight stages. Most of it is waiting, which is deliberate. If you would rather see the online service walked through screen by screen, our complete guide to online divorce does exactly that.

1Gather Your Documents

Your original marriage certificate or a certified copy, with a translation if it is not in English. Both full names and addresses exactly as they appear on the certificate, and the date and place of the marriage. If you have changed your name since marrying, have the evidence of that to hand.

2Complete and Submit the Application

Most people apply through the online service, which guides you question by question, saves as you go and confirms receipt straight away. You can also apply by post using Form D8, though it is slower. You pay the £628 here, or submit your Help with Fees application alongside it. Set aside about 40 minutes and do it when you are not rushed, because errors at this stage cause delays later.

3The Court Issues the Application

The court checks what you have sent, issues it with a case number and serves a copy on your spouse, who is called the respondent. Keep that case number somewhere safe, you will quote it at every later stage. The 20-week clock starts from the date of issue, not the date you submitted.

4Acknowledgement of Service

On a sole application, your spouse has 14 days to return the acknowledgement of service confirming they received the papers. They cannot stop the divorce. They can only dispute on narrow technical grounds such as jurisdiction, which is rare. What they can do is slow it down by ignoring it, and there are ways round that, covered further down.

5The 20-Week Reflection Period

You wait at least 20 weeks from the date of issue. This is the part people waste, and it is the single biggest opportunity in the whole process. Use it to agree arrangements for the children and to work through the financial settlement. Couples who start those conversations in week two finish the divorce with everything resolved. Couples who start in week eighteen do not.

6Apply for the Conditional Order

After the 20 weeks you apply for the conditional order, which used to be called the decree nisi. It is the court confirming it sees no reason why you should not divorce. A judge reviews the file and, if everything is in order, grants it and notifies you both. You do not attend court.

7The 6-Week Wait

Once the conditional order is granted there is a further wait of 6 weeks and 1 day. This window exists for a reason. It is when your financial consent order should be submitted and approved, so the money is settled before the marriage formally ends.

8Apply for the Final Order

The final order, formerly the decree absolute, legally ends the marriage. Apply online or use Form D36. Keep the certificate somewhere safe. You will need it as proof of divorce if you remarry, and sometimes for mortgage or pension purposes years later.

How Long Does a Divorce Take, and What Slows It Down?

The shortest a divorce can take is around six months, and doing it yourself does not make it slower. The two waiting periods are fixed in law and apply to everybody, whether you have a solicitor or not.

In practice most divorces take longer than the minimum, and the reason is almost never the divorce. These are the things that actually add months:

• The finances are unresolved: by far the most common cause. People hold back the final order until the money is settled, which is usually the right decision.
• Your spouse does not return the acknowledgement: this can add six to ten weeks while the court arranges alternative service.
• A mistake on the application: names that do not match the marriage certificate are the classic one, and the court sends it back.
• Complex assets: a business, a pension that needs an actuary, or property overseas all take time to value properly.
• A dispute about the children: this runs on a separate track but often holds up everything else.

Nothing you can do will shorten the 20 weeks or the 6 weeks and 1 day. What you can control is whether the finances are ready when those clocks run out.

What Is the Biggest Mistake in Divorce?

The biggest mistake in a divorce is getting the final order without getting a financial consent order. It is also the easiest mistake to make, because nothing in the process stops you or warns you. You finish, you feel relieved, and you assume it is over.

It is not over. The divorce ends the marriage. It does not end the financial claims you have against each other. Without a court-approved financial order, your ex-spouse can make a claim against your income, your savings, your property or your pension years afterwards, including against money you earned long after you separated. It happens more often than people imagine, usually when one party's circumstances change, an inheritance arrives or a business does well.

The way to close that door permanently is a clean break consent order. You write down what you have agreed, a judge approves it, and it becomes legally binding and enforceable. The court fee is £62. You do not attend a hearing, and you can do this whether or not you used a solicitor for the divorce itself.

Four other mistakes come up repeatedly, and they are all avoidable:

• Forgetting pensions: often the largest asset after the house, and routinely left out of DIY agreements. Our guide to pensions on divorce explains how they are shared.
• Applying for the final order too early: doing this before the finances are agreed can affect pension rights and, in rare cases, widow or widower benefits.
• Not updating your will: divorce affects some arrangements automatically and others not at all. Life insurance and pension nominations usually need changing by hand.
• Using the children as a bargaining chip: it damages them, and it does not work. Courts start from the position that children do best with a strong relationship with both parents.

What Are the Three C's of Divorce?

The three C's of divorce are communication, cooperation and compromise. It is a shorthand rather than a legal test, but it is a useful one, because it describes almost exactly what separates a divorce that costs £700 from one that costs £40,000.

• Communication: exchanging information honestly and directly, including the financial information neither of you wants to hand over.
• Cooperation: agreeing to work on the same problem at the same time, rather than each preparing a case against the other.
• Compromise: accepting that neither of you will get everything, and that a workable settlement now usually beats a perfect one two years and thirty thousand pounds later.

You will sometimes see a fourth C added for children, and where there are children it belongs there. The reason the three C's matter practically is that they are the conditions a DIY divorce needs in order to work. If all three are present, you can very likely handle this yourselves. If one is missing, that is the thing to address, and it is usually easier to fix than people expect. Mediation exists precisely to supply the first two when a couple cannot manage them alone.

What If Your Spouse Will Not Agree or Will Not Respond?

Your spouse cannot stop the divorce. Under the no-fault law introduced by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, your statement that the marriage has broken down irretrievably is conclusive. They can only dispute on narrow technical grounds, such as jurisdiction or the validity of the marriage, and those disputes are uncommon.

What they can do is refuse to engage. If the acknowledgement of service does not come back within 14 days, you have options:

• Arrange personal service: a process server or court bailiff hands the papers over in person and provides a statement confirming it.
• Apply for deemed service: if you can show they received the papers, for example a reply from their email address referring to them, the court can treat them as served.
• Apply for alternative service: the court can permit service by another route, such as email, text or a social media account they clearly use.
• Apply to dispense with service: a last resort where their whereabouts are genuinely unknown and every reasonable attempt to find them has failed.

Most of these are made using a D11 application, which carries a £195 fee, and Help with Fees can apply to that too. The practical effect is that a spouse who ignores the paperwork adds weeks and some cost, but they do not get a veto.

A spouse who will not discuss the money is a different problem, and a more serious one, because there is no equivalent of deemed service for a financial settlement. If they will not talk, you can invite them to mediation, and if they still refuse you may have to apply to court. Refusing to try mediation without good reason can now count against a person on costs, which is worth knowing and worth telling them. Where talking directly feels impossible but you both want to avoid court, shuttle mediation keeps you in separate rooms throughout.

Should You Apply for Divorce Jointly or on Your Own?

Both routes reach the same result and cost the same £628. The right choice depends on how well the two of you are able to work together right now, not on who wanted the divorce.

When a Joint Application Works Well

• You both accept the marriage is over and neither is trying to delay.
• You are on reasonable terms and want to share the process rather than have it done to one of you.
• You want to keep conflict low, which almost always helps where there are children.
• You are happy to split the fee between you.

When a Sole Application Makes More Sense

• Your spouse does not want to divorce, or will not engage with anything.
• Communication has broken down, or there has been abuse or controlling behaviour.
• You would rather keep control of the timing yourself, since a joint application needs both of you to act at each stage.

That last point catches people out. On a joint application, if your spouse stops responding at the conditional order stage, the whole thing stalls. You can switch to a sole application later, so you are not locked in, but it costs you time. If you have any doubt about whether they will see it through, a sole application is the safer choice.

When Is It Worth Getting Help, Even If You Do the Divorce Yourself?

Doing the divorce yourself and getting help with the settlement are not contradictory. In fact it is the combination we see work best. Keep the £628 application in your own hands and spend money only where it changes the outcome.

It is worth getting support when:

• there are children and you cannot agree where they live or how they see each parent,
• there is a family home, or one of you wants to stay in it,
• either of you has a pension of any real size,
• one of you owns or part-owns a business,
• there is likely to be spousal maintenance to work out,
• you do not trust that you have been told everything about the money,
• talking to each other has stopped working.

Support here does not mean two sets of solicitors on hourly rates. Mediation is a structured process with a neutral third person in the room, and you both keep the final say over what you agree. It starts with a private meeting called a MIAM, which is your own separate appointment with a mediator to talk through your situation and whether mediation is likely to work. If you would like to know what happens in that first meeting, our guide to attending a MIAM covers it step by step.

A MIAM with us is £138 including VAT per person, and it is free to you if you qualify for legal aid. Full pricing for every stage is set out on our costs and payments page, and there are fixed-fee packages if you would rather know the total up front.

What Are the Alternatives to Divorce?

Divorce is not the only option, and it is not always the right one straight away.

• A separation agreement: a written record of what you have agreed about money, property and the children while you decide what to do. It is not automatically binding but carries real weight, and our guide to a separation agreement explains when a court will follow it.
• Judicial separation: legal recognition that you are separated without ending the marriage. Sometimes chosen for religious reasons, or to protect a pension benefit that would be lost on divorce.
• Annulment: for marriages that are legally void or voidable. The grounds are narrow and specific, and it is far less common than people assume.
• Doing nothing for now: there is no time limit on applying, and some couples separate, sort out the practical arrangements, and divorce later. The risk is that financial claims stay open in the meantime.

Ending a civil partnership follows the same steps and the same timescales, with the paperwork named slightly differently. The no-fault divorce law applies to dissolution in the same way.

Frequently Asked Questions

This guide covers divorce in England and Wales only. The law in Scotland and Northern Ireland is different. It is general information, not legal advice for your specific circumstances.