The Ministry of Justice has announced that the cost of filing a Divorce Petition will rise from £410 to £550. The same increase would apply for an application to dissolve a Civil Partnership.
The original proposal was that the fee was to rise to a whopping £750.
The proposed increase is subject to a period of consultation, but the general feeling is that the rise will take effect later this year.
There is a further consultation in place at the moment relating to the possible closure of 91 Courts in England and Wales. Justice Minister, Michael Gove, has suggested that the closures are necessary to reduce ‘surplus capacity’.
This news comes at a time when delays in processing divorces has increased due to centralisation of this work. Bury St Edmunds, for example, is the divorce centre for the south of England and is bursting at the seams with work.
It was the norm that a Divorce Petition filed at Bury St Edmunds would be issued within a few days. Currently this takes at least 3 weeks!
