The Ministry of Justice has confirmed details of which court and tribunal fees, including those for family proceedings, which will increase in May 2024. One piece of good news is that the application fee for a divorce, currently £593, will not increase.

A consultation paper ‘Implementing increases to selected court and tribunal fees’ was published on 10th November 2023. The MoJ invited comments on proposals to increase a selection of court and tribunal fees by 10 per cent. It is claimed that these increases reflect changes in the consumer price index (CPI) since 2021 which was the last time court fees were increased.

One of the concerns raised was that increasing the fee for a divorce would impact access to justice for those on a low income, particularly on women. Statistically women are more likely to apply for a divorce than men. Others argued that the fees are already too high.

The new online divorce portal has already slashed the actual costs to the MoJ of processing divorce petitions and many believe that the current divorce petition fee of £593 is more than sufficient to cover the real costs of these cases.

Fortunately on this occasion the MoJ has agreed that an increase would not be proportionate. Therefore divorce petitions will remain at £593.

For a list of fees that will increase, click here. The list is in Annex B of the response document.

published 09.04.24