Why no solicitor is needed for an agreed divorce

People assume a financial order is lawyers' work because that is who usually does it. It is not who has to. Every step below is open to the two of you directly, and each claim links to its source so you can check it.

1. The divorce is an online form you file yourself

Since 2022 divorce in England and Wales is "no fault". One or both of you apply online, state the marriage has broken down, and nobody has to be blamed or prove anything. The government's own service is built for applicants without a lawyer and asks at the start whether you have a solicitor; "no" is a normal answer.

• GOV.UK: Get a divorce, the official step-by-step. Fee £690, paid to the court.
• GOV.UK: Apply for a conditional order (after 20 weeks) and the final order (6 weeks and 1 day later). Both free, both applied for by you.
• Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, the law that removed fault.

2. The consent order is a form too, and the court expects couples to use it

A consent order is the court making your agreement binding. The court provides the forms and guidance for doing this without a lawyer, and the standard wording for the order itself is published by the judiciary for anyone to use.

• GOV.UK: Apply for a consent order. Fee £62. You need the draft order, Form A (ticking the consent box) and the D81 statement of information, one each or a joint one.
• Form D81, the official form and notes. It is designed to be completed by the parties.
• Standard Financial Orders, the judiciary's template wording that judges expect to see. Agreeable's drafts follow it.
• Family Procedure Rules, Part 9, rule 9.26: the court can make a consent order on the papers, without anyone attending.

3. The law reserves very little to lawyers, and none of it is this

The Legal Services Act 2007 lists the "reserved legal activities" only a regulated lawyer may carry out. They are rights of audience (speaking for you in court), conduct of litigation (running a contested court case for you), reserved instrument activities (mainly transferring land), probate, notarial work and administering oaths. Explaining the process, helping two people set out their own agreement and preparing the forms they then sign and file themselves is not on that list. Lawyers can do it. So can anyone else, and so can you.

• Legal Services Act 2007, section 12 and Schedule 2, the reserved activities.
• JK v MK [2020] EWFC 2. The High Court examined a company that helps agreed couples prepare their divorce and consent order, with no solicitors, and held it was lawful: not conduct of litigation and not a reserved activity. The judge approved the order.

4. The judge checks the agreement, not who typed it

Judges approve consent orders on paper. What they check is that both of you have set out your finances honestly on the D81, that the order deals with everything (including pensions), and that the result is fair in the round. They don't ask who drafted it, and an order from a couple is held to the same standard as one from a firm.

• Our guide to what a judge checks, with the questions that get an order sent back.
• White v White [2000] UKHL 54, the House of Lords case that set the "yardstick of equality" judges still measure against.

5. When an hour of advice is worth paying for

Not needing a solicitor is not the same as never wanting one. Two situations justify a fixed-fee hour (typically £150 to £300) before you sign:

• A final-salary pension on either side. Its cash equivalent value often understates what it will pay. A pension on divorce expert report (£1,500 to £3,000, usually shared) tells you what share is actually equal.
• One of you ran the money. If one person has had much less to do with the finances, an independent check protects you both: the order is harder to reopen later when each of you had the chance to take advice.

Agreeable flags both automatically from your figures, and the Reviewed tier adds a solicitor's check of the draft for a fixed fee. Choosing it is yours; the court doesn't require it.

What this means for the cost

The only compulsory costs are the two court fees, £690 for the divorce and £62 for the consent order, £752 in total. Everything else is a choice. Solicitors acting for each of you typically cost £3,000 to £8,000 between you for an agreed case; a mediator-led service charges around £3,450. Doing it yourselves with Agreeable costs the court fees plus £249 for both of you.

Sources checked 14 October 2026. Fees are HM Courts & Tribunals Service figures for England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different processes.