Form D8: Divorce or Dissolution Application, Filing, and Fees

To fill out Form D8, you complete sections covering your details and your spouse’s, the marriage information, a statement that the marriage has irretrievably broken down, the jurisdiction basis that connects your case to England and Wales, and whether you intend to apply for a financial order later. You then submit the form online through GOV.UK or by post to the HMCTS Divorce and Dissolution Service in Harlow, with your marriage certificate and the £612 court fee.¹ Since April 2022, the process is no-fault under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, so you do not have to give reasons or prove anything about your spouse’s conduct.²

Before You Open the Form

Check first that you can actually apply. You must have been married for at least one year, counted from the date of the ceremony rather than the date you separated.³ You can file alone as a sole applicant, or jointly with your spouse so there is no respondent to serve.⁴

Then gather your documents. Missing items get the whole package sent back.

Your marriage or civil partnership certificate — original or certified copy. If it is not in English, include a certified translation.
Your full name and address, and your spouse’s current address, spelled exactly as they appear on the certificate.
Your spouse’s email address if you have it. Providing it lets the court serve papers digitally; without it, hard copies go by post.¹
Proof of any name change since the marriage, such as a deed poll.
The £612 court fee, payable by debit or credit card online or by cheque by post.¹

If the Fee Is a Problem

You can apply for a reduction or full waiver through the Help with Fees scheme by completing Form EX160 before or at the same time as your divorce application.⁵ Eligibility depends on your savings, any means-tested benefits you receive, and your monthly income. A full waiver roughly applies if your monthly income is £1,420 or less (single) or £2,130 or less (with a partner), subject to the savings threshold.⁶ In a joint application, both applicants must apply separately; if only one qualifies, the full fee is still owed.

If You Need to Keep Your Address Private

Where your spouse poses a risk to you or your children, file Form C8 alongside your application to keep your address, phone number, and email sealed from the other party.⁷ File it separately; do not staple or attach it to anything else. Also check that no other document you submit, such as a financial statement, accidentally shows the address you are trying to protect.

Working Through the Form

You can download Form D8 as a PDF from GOV.UK and complete it on paper, or answer the equivalent questions in the online divorce portal.⁴ Either way, the sections are the same.

Party and Marriage Details

The opening sections ask for names, addresses, and contact details. In a sole application you fill in your details as the applicant and your spouse’s as the respondent. In a joint application both of you appear as applicants and there is no respondent section. Enter the date and location of the marriage exactly as shown on the certificate. Small discrepancies in spelling or dates trigger a rejection.

Statement of Irretrievable Breakdown

You tick a box confirming the marriage has irretrievably broken down. That is the sole ground for divorce under the 2020 Act, and you do not need to explain why or provide evidence.² The old five facts — adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, two years’ separation with consent, and five years’ separation — no longer apply.

Jurisdiction

The court will only accept your application if you can show a sufficient connection to England and Wales. You must tick at least one of the following boxes:

You and your spouse both live in England or Wales.
You both last lived in England or Wales and one of you still does.
Your spouse lives in England or Wales.
You live in England or Wales and have done so for at least twelve months before applying.
You are domiciled in England or Wales and have lived there for at least six months before applying.
You and your spouse are both domiciled in England or Wales.
Either of you is domiciled in England or Wales.

“Habitually resident” broadly means the country where you have your settled life: where you work, where your home is, where your day-to-day routine sits. “Domiciled” is tied to the country you treat as your permanent home, often where you were born or where you intend to live long-term. Jurisdiction is the one area where a respondent can realistically challenge a divorce under the no-fault system; if none of the connections truly applies, or a court in another country is already handling the divorce, the respondent can file an answer disputing the court’s power to proceed.⁸

Financial Orders

Form D8 includes a section where you indicate whether you intend to apply for a financial order covering things like maintenance, property division, or pension sharing. Ticking the box does not start a financial claim. It puts the court and your spouse on notice that you plan to seek one later. This is where a lot of people trip up: if you leave the boxes unticked and later want a share of your spouse’s pension or a property transfer, you face extra steps and potential complications. When in doubt, tick the boxes. It preserves your options without committing you to anything. The actual financial application is made later through a separate Form A.⁹

Submitting the Form

You have two routes. Online is faster because your information reaches the court immediately and documents upload digitally. Go to the GOV.UK divorce application page, work through the prompts, upload a scan or photo of your marriage certificate, and pay the £612 fee by card. If you started an application earlier you can log back in and continue.¹

To file by post, print and complete the paper Form D8 and send it with your marriage certificate (plus any certified translation) and a cheque made out to HMCTS to:

HMCTS Divorce and Dissolution Service
PO Box 13226
Harlow
CM20 9UG¹

This address handles all paper divorce filings for England and Wales. Check the envelope before you seal it. If anything is missing, the whole package comes back and you lose weeks.

What Happens After You File

Once the court issues your application, a fixed timeline begins and you cannot speed it up. The minimum from start to finish is about six months.

In a sole application, the court sends your spouse a copy of the application with an acknowledgment of service. They have 14 days to respond and say whether they intend to dispute the divorce.⁸ Disputing is very limited under the no-fault system; a respondent cannot block a divorce simply because they do not want one. Joint applications skip this step.

A mandatory 20-week reflection period then runs from the date the court issued the application, not from when you submitted it or when the respondent acknowledged it. You cannot apply for the next stage until it ends.¹⁰

After the 20 weeks, you apply for a conditional order, the court’s confirmation that it sees no legal reason the divorce cannot go ahead. At least 43 days (six weeks and one day) after that, you can apply for the final order, which legally ends the marriage.¹⁰ Do not apply for the final order before your finances are sorted. Once the marriage is legally over, certain claims, particularly against your ex-spouse’s pension, become harder or impossible to pursue.

Form D8 Does Not Divide Your Money

Filing Form D8 ends the marriage. It does not divide money, property, or pensions. Those need a separate process. If you agree on how to split everything, you draft a consent order and submit it for the court’s approval. If you cannot agree, either party can file Form A to ask the court to decide.⁹ Getting a financial order, whether by consent or by court decision, is worth doing even if you think there is nothing to divide. Without one, your ex-spouse can potentially bring a financial claim against you years later. A clean-break order closes that door.

1
GOV.UK. Get a Divorce: How to Apply
2
Legislation.gov.uk. Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020
3
Legislation.gov.uk. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973
4
GOV.UK. Apply for a Divorce or to Dissolve a Civil Partnership: Form D8
5
GOV.UK. Apply for Help With Court and Tribunal Fees: Form EX160
6
GOV.UK. Get Help Paying Court and Tribunal Fees
7
GOV.UK. Confidential Contact Details: Form C8
8
GOV.UK. Get a Divorce: What Happens After You Apply
9
GOV.UK. Money and Property When You Divorce or Separate: Get the Court to Decide
10
GOV.UK. Apply for a Conditional Order or Decree Nisi