I AM L.I.P

I AM L.I.P

I am a Litigant In Person

Form A

Form used to start the court process of dividing your marital assets, finances and pensions in divorce or civil partnerships proceedings

 

WHAT IS FORM A USED FOR?

Form A is the application form used to START the court process of sorting out the division of your marital assets, finances, and pensions. This process is also called ancillary relief, financial remedy, and financial settlement proceedings.

FORM A is the application form also used for the following – 

1) APPLY FOR CERTAIN FINANCIAL COURT ORDERS – Within form A, you can inform the court that you intend to apply for or vary the following financial court orders.

  • A maintenance pending suit.
  • A lump sum order.
  • A property adjustment order.
  • A settlement or a transfer of property for the benefit of the child/children.
  • A periodical payments order together with another financial provision court order.
  • A pension sharing order.
  • A pension compensation sharing order.

For an explanation on what these financial court orders mean please read our L.I.P Help Guide ‘Financial Terms and Financial Court Orders Explained’. 

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘FINANCIAL TERMS AND FINANCIAL COURT ORDERS EXPLAINED’

2) APPLY FOR A FINANCIAL COURT ORDER FOR THE CHILDREN – Form A can be used to make an application for financial provision court order for your children.

3) APPLY TO FORMALISE/APPROVE A DRAFT CONSENT AGREEMENT – If you and your ex-partner have reached an agreement with regards to the division of your marital assets, finances and pensions between yourself or through mediation, then this agreement will be written down on a piece of paper called a draft consent agreement. You can send this draft consent agreement with form A to ask the court to formalise/approve it and stamp it to make it legal. This will now be called a financial consent order.

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘YOUR DRAFT CONSENT AGREEMENT EXPLAINED (ALSO CALLED A DRAFT CONSENT ORDER AND AN INFORMAL AGREEMENT)’

4) PERIODICAL PAYMENTS COURT ORDER – Periodical payments is also known as maintenance payments. This is usually paid by the financially stronger ex-partner to the financially weaker ex-partner for child maintenance, spousal maintenance, and help with legal fees. Periodical payments are paid on a regular reoccurring basis, often monthly. When it comes to a periodical payments court order, form A is the form used for the following – 

  • To REPLACE an existing periodical payment order with a lump sum order, a property adjustment order, a pension sharing order, a pension compensation sharing order. 
  • To apply for a periodical payments order TOGETHER (NOT ALONE) with another financial provision court order. 

Form A CANNOT be used to apply for, vary or discharge a periodical payments court order ONLY BY ITSELF. You will need to use form A1 to do this. 

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM A1

ARE THERE ANY GOVERNMENT OR OUR OWN L.I.P HELP GUIDES OR WRITE UPS TO HELP YOU COMPLETE FORM A?

  • The government have written guidance notes called ‘D190 – I want to apply for a financial order’. These notes will help you complete form A. 

LINK TO GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE NOTES D190.  

  • You can also read our L.I.P Help Guide ‘A Basic Step By Step Account Of The Whole Court Process of Dividing Assets’.

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘A BASIC STEP BY STEP ACCOUNT OF THE WHOLE COURT PROCESS OF DIVIDING ASSETS’

  • Pages 17-19 of form A has general information how to complete form A.

WHAT IS THE FEE TO SEND FORM A TO THE COURT AND HOW TO PAY FOR IT?

The fee to send form A to the court is £275.00.

The fee to send form A to the court if you are asking the court to approve/formalise a draft consent agreement that has been agreed between you and your ex-partner is £53.00.

Please click on the link below to government guide EX50 page 15 for family court fees.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT GUIDE EX50 FOR FAMILY COURT FEES

  • Please attach a cheque or postal order made payable to HM Courts & Tribunal Service.
  • If you are on certain benefits or on a low income you can apply to the court to have your fees paid for you. The form you need is called form EX160. You can complete and submit the form online or download a hardcopy from the government website. You will need to attach proof of your benefits, your income, and/or 3 months bank statements. The government website also has the EX160A guidance notes which you can download and read to help you complete form EX160. You can send the completed form EX160 with all attachments along with your completed form A for the court to consider. Or you could have sent your completed form EX160 to the court in advance and received a ‘help with fees’ reference number starting with HWF to put on the top right hand corner of the front page of the form you are asking help with, in this case, form A.

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM EX160 (Here, you can access both form EX160 & EX160A guidance note

HOW TO COMPLETE FORM A AND WHERE TO SEND IT.

  • NOTE 1 – If you are completing and sending this form in then you are known as the applicant or petitioner. Your ex-partner is known as the respondent.
  • NOTE 2 – You can complete this form online and then print a hard copy. Alternatively you can download it, print it and then complete by black pen. 
  • NOTE  3- If you find there is not enough space to complete your answers on your form then please use additional sheets of paper to continue on and attach them to your form. Please write your name, address and question number on the top of your additional sheets of paper. 
  • NOTE 4 – Please send at least 3-4 copies of form A, any evidence and attachments to the court. The court will distribute the copies accordingly. One copy is required for the court and one for each party in the proceedings.
  • NOTE 5 – Please keep a copy of your form A, all evidence and attachments for yourself outside of the ones you send to the family court.
  • Form A is 19 pages long.
  • On page 1 you will be asked to write, on the top right hand corner, the name of the court dealing with your case and the case number if you have one. You will also be asked to write down the full name of the applicant and the respondent(s).
  • Just underneath is a statement you will be required to read. It is two paragraphs long. The paragraphs are about the questioning of a victim of domestic violence or a witness by the alleged perpetrator or the questioning of an alleged perpetrator by the victim. If your case involves domestic violence and your court hearing is one where you or your ex-partner will give oral evidence then the court may send forms EX740 (the party making the abuse allegation) and EX741 (the party accused of abuse) to you and/or your ex-partner along with the court order informing you of the date of the oral hearing. You and/or your ex-partner will need to complete forms EX740 and EX741 and return them to the court. Once the court has one or both of these forms then the court can consider whether to prevent the questioning or cross-examination in person of either party by each other. You can also make this application to the court by yourself if you DO NOT wish to be cross-examined by the perpetrator or the accuser.

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM EX740

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM EX741

  • Page 2 has many boxes asking about the nature of your application. You must ONLY tick the boxes that apply to you –
    • If you are applying for a financial settlement because of your divorce please tick the box at the top. The form will then ask if the court has granted your conditional order/decree nisi certificate and your final order/decree absolute certificate. Please tick the appropriate box. 
    • If you are asking for a financial provision for the benefit of the children please tick the box which says ‘under paragraphs 1 or 2 of schedule to the Children Act 1989’.
    • Then in the next section straight underneath on the left hand side you need to tick the relevant box for which statement applies to you if it does – you intend to apply to the court or proceed with an application for divorce etc or apply to vary one of the court orders listed on the right hand side.
    • Then in the next section straight underneath you will be asked if you want to apply to discharge a periodical payments order and to substitute it for one of the courts orders listed on the opposite right hand side. Please tick the relevant box if this applies to you.
    • At the bottom of page 2 you will be asked if you are applying for a order by consent in terms of a written agreement. If this applies to you please tick the yes box. What this means is you and your ex-partner have reached an agreement with regards to the division of your marital assets and finances between yourself or through mediation, and this agreement has been written down on a piece of paper called a draft consent agreement. You will need to attach your draft consent agreement to your form A. You will also need to complete and submit form D81, which is a statement of support form for a consent order. Form D81 is where both you and your ex-partner will detail both of your finances. Form D81 will help the court determine whether your draft consent order is fair.

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM D81 

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘YOUR DRAFT CONSENT AGREEMENT EXPLAINED (ALSO CALLED A DRAFT CONSENT ORDER AND AN INFORMAL AGREEMENT)’

  • Part 1 will ask you further details about your financial application –
    • If your application includes a property adjustment court order with regards to land you must provide the details in the boxes. Box 1 will ask you to write down the address(es) of the property or properties and box 2 about mortgagees.
    • If you are applying for a periodical payments or secured periodical payments for your children please tick the relevant boxes.
    • If you have not ticked any of the boxes with regards to periodical payments then you will be asked if the CSA (Child Support Agency) has made any calculations with regards to the children and if they have, you must give the reasons why the CSA is not involved anymore and why are you asking the court to deal with this or if they still are why you need more maintenance/top up than what was calculated by the CSA.
    • You will then be asked to give details of the children if your form A application is with regards to your children. If there is not enough space on your form A please continue on a separate sheet of paper and attach it to your form A. Please write your name, date of birth, case number and question number at the top of the sheet.
  • Part 1 then continues on page 5 and will ask you if you are represented by a solicitor and for their details if you are. If you are not the form will ask you for your contact details. If you want to keep your contact details confidential from your ex-partner, please do not write down your contact details on page 5 – service details of your form A. Please complete form C8 and send it with your form A. From now on, you must make sure that all forms, evidence, or reports you send to the court must not contain your contact details. The court staff will not do this for you. Once you have completed form C8, the court will not release your contact details to anyone without a court order. 

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM C8

  • Part 1 continues on page 6 and asks for your ex-partners/respondents address or their solicitors address so they can be served with a court stamped copy of your form A. The word ‘to serve your ex-partner’ means they must receive a copy of your application form or any other court paperwork that require them to be informed, respond, comply with directions or attend court.
  • Part 2 on page 7 – It is a legal requirement for all divorcing couples to attend mediation to resolve the division of marital assets and finances first before applying to the court to help resolve these matters. Please tick either the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ box of question 2a which asks if you have attended mediation. Or if you are exempt then please tick the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ box of question 2b.
  • You are exempt from mediation (for example – if you are a victim of domestic violence), you will need to complete part 3 of form A. If you and your ex-partner have tried mediation and it has been unsuccessful, then your mediator will need to complete part 4 of your form A.
  • Part 5 on page 16 will ask you to sign a statement of truth on your form A.
  • It is wise to complete and finalise all division of marital assets and finances before you apply for a final order/decree absolute – the document that states your marriage has ended. This is not compulsory, however, not doing so could affect your entitlement and taxes that need to be paid.

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR THE PROCESS OF APPLYING FOR A FINAL ORDER

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘THE PROCESS OF APPLYING FOR A DECREE ABSOLUTE’

  • As stated above please send 3 copies of your form A and all attachments to either your regional court centre or your local court dealing with the division of marital assets, finances and pensions. Page 17  ‘What to do next’ will also direct you to the correct address.   

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR REGIONAL DIVORCE CENTRE

LINK GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO FIND YOUR LOCAL DIVORCE CENTRE

WHERE CAN YOU FIND FORM A/DOWNLOAD THIS FORM?

Please click on the link below to download form A from the government website. Please complete and send by post (signed for recorded delivery) to the court.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR FORM A

WHEN WAS FORM A FIRST PUBLISHED AND LAST UPDATED?

Form A was first published by the government (HM Courts & Tribunals Service) on 01-01-2018 and it was last updated on 08-10-2024.