By 
Part of: Family Law Specialists
The FP8 form is how you tell the family court that a new firm is acting for you, or that you are acting alone. Perhaps you have lost confidence in the people handling your case. Or the work has stalled and a hearing is coming. Until you file that notice at court and serve it on everyone, the firm you are leaving stays on the record (Family Procedure Rules, r.26.1). The court will keep writing to them. Our guide to your first family court hearing explains what else is running alongside this.
This guide covers England and Wales only. It walks through each box, but it cannot give you the right answers, because those depend on where your case has got to.
Key takeaways
- FP8 is the family form. Practice Direction 5A lists FP8 against Part 26, “Notification of change of solicitor” (FPR PD5A, Table 2).
- Nothing changes until you file and serve it. Your former firm stays on the record “unless and until” you file and serve the notice. The only other way off is a court order (r.26.2(5)).
- Three destinations. Every other party, your former firm, and the court office where the case is proceeding (r.26.2(2); PD26A, para 2.6).
- Going it alone means giving an address. Perhaps a firm has run your case and you now intend to act in person. Then you must give an address for service inside the United Kingdom (PD26A, para 2.5; r.6.26).
- N434 is the wrong form here. Its heading reads “Notice of change of legal representative”. It asks for a claim number, a claimant and a defendant (GOV.UK: N434). Family cases use FP8.
What is the FP8 form, and when do you need it?
It is the family court’s notice of change. GOV.UK puts it plainly: use it “to tell the court that a client has replaced their solicitor or has decided to represent themselves” (GOV.UK: Form FP8). The current version is FP8 (01.23), four pages, Crown copyright 2023.
You need one in three situations, set out in rule 26.2(1). First, a firm acts for you and you want to move to another firm. Second, you have been running the case yourself and have now instructed someone. Third, a firm has acted for you and you intend to act in person from here.
One exception is easy to miss. Part 26 does not count someone brought in only to speak for you at a single hearing as acting for you (PD26A, para 1.3). So booking an advocate for one day does not need an FP8 form.
Notice of change of solicitor: what the rules actually require
Rule 26.2(2) requires two separate acts. You serve notice of the change, and you file notice of the change. Service goes to every other party. It also goes to the former firm where you are switching or going it alone (r.26.2(2)(a)).
Two details decide whether the filed notice is any good. It must state your new address for service (r.26.2(3)). It must also state that you have served notice as the rule requires (r.26.2(4)). The notice goes to the court office where the application is proceeding (PD26A, para 2.6). Do not send it to a different building because it is nearer.
A later move of address counts too. A party or a firm may change the address for service. If so, they should also file a notice of that change and serve it on every party (PD26A, para 2.4). Skip that, and post keeps going to an office nobody reads.
FP8 or N434: which form does a family case need?
FP8, every time, if your case is in the family court. N434 belongs to civil claims. Its heading reads “Notice of change of legal representative”. Its boxes ask for a claim number, the name of the claimant and the name of the defendant (GOV.UK: N434, current version 04.14).
The FP8 form asks for a name of court, a case number, and the name of the applicant or a serial number. That is the vocabulary of family proceedings. Practice Direction 26A points to Practice Direction 5A for the form to use. PD5A’s table then sets FP8 against Part 26. N434 does not appear in that table at all.
Send the civil form to a family court and you have not complied with Part 26. The old firm stays on the record and the clock keeps running. You then find out at the worst possible moment.
Can I change my solicitor during divorce or a children case?
Yes. Part 26 assumes you can, and sets out the notice you give when you do (FPR Part 26). You do not ask the court for permission to change firms, and you do not need the other side’s agreement.
What a change does not do is pause your case. Nothing in Part 26 stops the timetable because you have moved. Directions already made still bite, and a hearing already listed still happens. So the real question is never whether you may move. It is whether the new team has enough time before the next date.
Moving close to a hearing? Book a free initial consultation and one of our family law specialists will give you initial advice on your situation. That includes what you can realistically get done before that date.
Who can complete an FP8 form, and who signs it?
Either the party or the firm acting can do it. Rule 26.2(2) puts the duty on “the party or the party’s solicitor (where one is acting)”. The FP8’s own signature block offers six options. They are applicant, applicant’s solicitor, applicant’s litigation friend, respondent, respondent’s solicitor and respondent’s litigation friend.
So you can sign it yourself. In practice, where a new firm is taking over, that firm usually completes box B and signs. That is because box B names who you have instructed and in place of whom. If you are taking the case on yourself, box A is yours, and so is the signature on the FP8 form.
What does the change of solicitor form ask for, box by box?
| Part of the form | What it asks | Easy to miss |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Name of court, case number, name of applicant or serial number, respondent. | The serial number option is there because the court identifies some parties by number rather than by name. |
| Box A | Your former firm has ceased to act and you will now act in person. Give that firm’s name and address. | Tick A only if you are going it alone. If a new firm is taking over, A is not your box. |
| Box B | The applicant or the respondent has instructed the named firm in place of the previous firm. Give the previous firm’s name and address. | The previous firm’s details still have to be right. That is the address the court stops using. |
| Box C | A statement that you have served notice of this change on every party in the application, and on the former firm. | This is the rule 26.2(4) confirmation. Tick it before you have actually served, and the notice you filed is not true. |
| Address block | The address documents should be sent to, with phone, DX, email and any reference. | The form labels it as the acting firm’s address. Acting in person, this is where your own address for service has to land. |
| Signature and date | Signed as applicant, respondent, a litigation friend or the firm acting. A firm also gives the position held. | An undated or unsigned notice gives the court office a reason to send it back. |
Cases in Wales
GOV.UK also has a Welsh and English version of the same form, “Rhybudd newid cyfreithiwr”, for cases in Wales (GOV.UK: Form FP8).
What happens if the FP8 is not filed and served?
Your former firm stays on the record. Rule 26.2(5) covers a party who has changed firms or intends to act in person. The former firm “will be considered to be the party’s solicitor unless and until” the notice is filed and served. The alternative is a court order under rule 26.3, once that order is served.
That is not a formality. Rule 26.1 ties the firm’s business address to the case. While that is your address for service, the rules treat the firm as acting for you. So orders, directions and the other side’s letters go to an office you have walked away from. The first you hear of a deadline can come after it has passed. Our guide to Form H and H1 shows how costs come before a judge. Duplicated work on a botched handover is exactly the kind a judge notices.
What if your firm comes off the record, or cannot act any more?
Then the route is an order, not an FP8 form. Under rule 26.3, a firm can apply for an order declaring that it has ceased to act. That can be for a party or for a children’s guardian. Notice must go to the person it acts for unless the court directs otherwise. The firm must also support the application with evidence. The order takes effect on service (PD26A, para 3.3).
There is a second route, and it belongs to the other side. Rule 26.4 covers a firm that has died, become bankrupt, ceased to practise or cannot be found. If the party it acted for has not given notice of a change, any other party may apply for an order. That order declares that the firm has ceased to act.
After either order, the job lands on you. The party must give a new address for service to comply with rule 6.26 (PD26A, para 5.1). Until you give one, the court may need to give directions about how documents reach you.
Acting in person after the change: your address for service
An address for service inside the United Kingdom is the price of taking over your own case. PD26A, para 2.5 says it directly. A party who has conducted an application by a firm and now intends to act in person must give an address for service within the United Kingdom (see r.6.26).
If your address is a safety issue, raise it before you file anything. Rule 26.2(3) requires the new address “except where a serial number has been assigned under rule 14.2 or the name or address of a party is not being revealed in accordance with rule 29.1”. Rule 29.1 lets you keep your home address and other contact details from anyone other than the court. You do that by giving those particulars to the court instead.
Get that sequence wrong and you can hand your address to the person you were keeping it from. Worse, you do it in a document you filed yourself. So if that is your situation, do not send the FP8 form first and ask afterwards. Our guide to being a litigant in person covers what changes once nobody is filtering the post for you. Our guide on how to address a judge covers the hearing itself.
Is there a fee for filing an FP8 form?
The family court’s main fees list sets no fee for a notice of change (GOV.UK: Family court fees EX50, updated 13 July 2026). The fees on that list attach to applications. It costs £628 to apply for a divorce, nullity or dissolution. A children’s application, such as a child arrangements order, costs £270.
Fees do move, and a court office can ask for something a summary list does not show. Check the current list before you send anything. If a court fee is the thing standing in your way, see our EX160 guide.
Before you send an FP8 form: where do you stand?
Pick the move you are making, then see what is already true. It cannot tell you whether the timing is right for your case.
There is no score. Anything you cannot tick yet is worth settling before the notice goes in.
The calls a checklist can’t make for you
- Whether to move now or after the next hearing. The timetable will not pause for either.
- How to protect an address that must not reach the other party, before you file anything.
- What a new team can realistically read, absorb and file in the time that is left.
- What a handover does to the costs picture, and how that reads to a judge.
These turn on where your case has got to. They are far easier to settle before the notice goes in than after.
Book a free initial consultation
One of our family law specialists will give you initial advice on your situation. We can limit that to the one thing in front of you, such as a single decision or the next hearing. You can carry on conducting the case yourself afterwards.
FP8 form: frequently asked questions
Can I change my solicitor during divorce?
Yes. You do not need permission from the court or agreement from the other side. You give notice of the change under rule 26.2. It takes effect once you have filed and served that notice.
FP8 or N434: which one do I need?
FP8 for a family case. N434 is the civil form and asks for a claim number, a claimant and a defendant. Practice Direction 5A lists FP8 against Part 26 and does not mention N434.
What is a “family notice of acting”?
It is an informal name, borrowed from civil practice. The family rules and the form itself call it a notice of change. The document you file is the FP8 form.
Who can complete an FP8 form?
The party, or the firm acting for them. The signature block lets the applicant, the respondent, a litigation friend or the firm acting sign it.
Is there a fee for an FP8 form?
The family court’s main fees list sets no fee for a notice of change. Fees do change, so check the current list before you send it.
What happens if I do not file and serve the change?
The rules still treat your former firm as acting for you. So the court and the other side keep writing to them. Orders and deadlines can pass before you hear about them.
Can I keep my address off the form?
Rule 26.2(3) excuses the new address in two cases. One is where a serial number has been assigned under rule 14.2. The other is where your name or address is not being revealed under rule 29.1. Raise it with the court before you file, not after.
Moving firms mid-case, or taking it on yourself? Talk to us before the notice goes in
Losing faith in the people running your case is exhausting, and the timetable does not stop while you decide. Book a free initial consultation about your FP8 form and your next steps. One of our family law specialists will give you initial advice on your situation, including what you can do before your next date. You do not have to hand the whole case over to get that. We can limit our help in scope, such as advice on one issue or a look at the document in front of you. You then conduct the rest of the case yourself. If you would rather have fuller support, our specialists can assist and guide you at each stage. You remain the one conducting the case. How much help you want is your call to make, not ours. You can also read our family court guides.
Expert Tip
The box people rush is box C, the statement that you have served every party and the former firm. Suppose you file the notice with that ticked before service has actually happened. You have then told the court something that is not yet true, on a form you signed. Serve first, then file, and keep proof of when each went out. It takes an afternoon. It is also the difference between a clean handover and a judge asking why the last order went to a firm that no longer acts.
Garry Steedman, Family Law Consultant (Divorce, Children & TOLATA)
