The Ministry of Justice says the court and tribunal fee increases are to reflect changes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The majority of the 171 fees being increased will see an uplift of 3.2%, rounded to the nearest pound.
24 court and tribunal fees will also be reduced in order to ensure that they “remain aligned with the latest estimate of their underlying costs”.
There is a scheme to help those who are unable to afford court fees due to limited income. You can find information about it on the government website.
The most notable fee increases to affect Graysons’ clients are:
Family
- Applications for divorce, annulment or dissolution of civil partnership – from £593 to £612
- Applications for a matrimonial or dissolution of civil partnership order – from £402 to £415
- Applications for a financial remedy order – from £303 to £313
- Applications for a financial remedy consent order – from £58 to £60
- Answer to application for matrimonial or civil partnership order – will reduce from £245 to £234
- Applications for a financial order (other than consent order) – from £303 to £313
- Applications for decree nisi, conditional order, separation order (no fee if undefended) – from £59 to £61
- Applications for most orders under the Children Act 1989 (such as for children arrangements or parental responsibility issues) – from £255 to £263.
Private client
Whilst it appears that probate application court fees will remain unchanged, some non-contentious probate fees will increase as follows:
- Duplicate/second grant for same deceased person – from £20 to £21
- Deposit of wills – from £22 to £23
- Inspection of will/other documents retained by the registry – from £20 to £23
- Settling documents – from £4 to £5
- Some Court of Protection fees will also increase:
- Application fee (Article 4) – from £408 to £421
- Appeal fee (Article 5) – from£257 to £265
- Hearing fee (Article 6) will reduce from £494 to £259
Other court and tribunal costs will change too. You can see the full list of the proposed increases and decreases to court and tribunal fees on the government’s website.
