Free Divorce Advice: What's Free and Where Costs Start

Part of: Divorce Specialists

Free divorce advice is what you can get before you pay anyone: a first conversation with a specialist, plus the official guidance on how divorce works. It is enough to tell you where you stand and what to do next. It is not the same as having someone run the divorce for you. And the court’s own fee is never free. Our divorce specialists assist and advise from that first call onwards. This page covers the law of England and Wales.

This page is for you if money is part of the worry. Can you afford to start, what does a free conversation actually give you, and what would you pay for afterwards? It sets out what is free and what is not. It also shows the points where getting it wrong costs far more than advice ever would.

Reviewed by: Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist, Kabir Family Law

What counts as free divorce advice?

It comes in two forms, and they do different jobs. Official guidance on GOV.UK tells you how the process works for everybody. A free initial consultation with a specialist tells you how it is likely to work for you.

The first is reliable on procedure and silent on your situation. It does not know that your spouse has already moved money, that the house is in one name, or that you married abroad. The second starts from your facts. Neither one runs a case for you, and neither is a shortcut past the court’s own rules.

What does a free consultation for divorce cover?

A free initial consultation is a conversation with one of our specialists, who gives you initial advice tailored to your circumstances. It does not include drafting or reviewing documents. In those fifteen minutes you can expect to cover:

• whether a court here can deal with your divorce, and whether now is the right moment to apply;
• what each stage of the process asks of you, and how long the law says it takes;
• which parts of your situation look straightforward, and which do not;
• what you need to decide about money, a home or the children, and in what order;
• what taking it further with us would involve, so you can decide in your own time.

You are not signing up to anything by having the conversation. You can finish the call, take your time over it, and come back when you are ready.

What free divorce advice cannot do

This is where honesty matters more than marketing. Free advice that pretends to be the whole job leaves you worse off than no advice at all, because you act on it.

• It cannot review your case in 15 minutes. The free consultation is a 15 minute telephone call. Fifteen minutes is orientation. It is long enough to tell you what your situation turns on and what to do next. However, it is nowhere near long enough to read your papers or work out a settlement.
• It is advice, not the work. A first conversation does not include drafting or reviewing anything for you.
• It cannot decide for you. A specialist can tell you what a court is likely to weigh and what each route costs you in time and risk. The choice stays yours.
• It cannot promise an outcome. Money on divorce turns on a list of factors the court weighs in your case. They run from income and needs to what each of you gave to the family (MCA 1973, s.25). Nobody can price that from a summary.
• It cannot cover you for what changes later. Advice given before your spouse applies, empties an account or moves abroad may not hold once they have.

How do you book free divorce advice, and what should you have ready?

You book it in one step. Ask for a callback, say when suits you, and add a line about what has happened. We call you at the time you choose, and if you are outside the UK you can ask for the call by video or messaging app instead.

The call is far more useful if you have these to hand. Rough is fine, and a gap is not a problem:

• when and where you married, and when you separated.
• a rough picture of what each of you owns, earns and owes, including any pension.
• whether either of you has already started anything at court.
• the ages of any children, and where they are living now.
• the one question you most want answered before the call ends.

That last one matters more than people expect. Bring the question that is keeping you awake, and the call is about your situation instead of the general process.

What is genuinely free, and where do divorce costs start?

Two things here are genuinely free: the official guidance on GOV.UK, and a first conversation with us. The first cost after that is not ours at all.

It costs £628 to apply for a divorce in England and Wales, and that is paid to the court (GOV.UK). If finding it would be a real problem, there is a separate application to the court about the fee itself. Our guide to the EX160 form explains how that works and where people come unstuck.

There is a second court fee that catches people out. The divorce order does not divide anything. So an agreement about money and property only becomes binding once a judge approves a consent order, and the court fee for that is £62 (GOV.UK). A divorce and a consent order therefore cost £690 in court fees before anyone charges you for advice.

After the fee, cost depends on what you ask a specialist to do. We do not publish fixed prices, because an honest figure depends on facts we have not heard yet. A number invented before that conversation is worth nothing to you. What the first call can do is tell you which parts of your situation are likely to need real work and which are not. Our guide to family law costs sets out the wider picture.

Free legal advice for divorce: how far does it take you?

It takes you up to your own decision and stops there. That is not a failing. It is what free advice is for: orientation, not delivery.

Where it runs out is usually one of four places. Money, because the divorce order itself does not divide anything. A home, because who stays and who is bought out is rarely obvious. The children, because arrangements and finances pull on each other. Or a spouse who simply will not engage, which changes the timetable and the tactics.

Add a pension, a business or a property in one name, and the decisions become expensive to get wrong. Our page on financial settlement after divorce covers the money side, and no fault divorce explains the process the law now uses. The 20-week reflection period explains the wait built into it.

Is your free divorce advice going to be useful? A quick check

Use this before you book anything. It does not score you and it does not tell you what to do, because that depends on facts only you have.

Frequently asked questions

General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.

Expert Tip

You will get the most out of fifteen free minutes by asking what your situation is likely to turn on. Cost follows from that answer, not the other way round. So a figure quoted before anyone knows the answer is worth very little to you. Come with the thing you are most afraid of. It might be the pension you do not understand, the house in their name, or the message that said they would take the children. That is the part of the conversation that changes what you do next.

Garry Steedman, Family Law Consultant (Divorce, Children & TOLATA)