Form A Explained: How to Apply to Court for a Financial Order

Form A is the court form that starts a financial remedy application — the formal request for a judge to decide how your money, property and pensions are divided. Filing it starts a fixed timetable: the court lists a First Appointment 12 to 16 weeks later, and you both have to exchange Form E disclosure 35 days before that hearing.

Most people meet Form A at one of two very different moments. Either negotiation has stalled and you need something that forces movement, or you have already agreed everything and need it turned into a binding order. The same form covers both — but one route requires a mediation meeting first and the other does not, and the fee differs by more than £250. This guide walks through Form A (05.26) section by section, explains the MIAM gateway, and sets out exactly what happens in the weeks after you file.

Quick answer: what does Form A actually do?

Form A gives notice that you intend to proceed with an application for a financial order in divorce, dissolution, nullity or judicial separation proceedings. In plain terms: it opens a court file about the money. Once it is issued, a judge has the power to make orders about the house, savings, pensions and maintenance — and a timetable that neither of you can quietly ignore.

Two things follow immediately. First, the court serves a copy on your ex within four days of filing and gives you both notice of the First Appointment. Second, you are both then required to produce full financial disclosure on Form E, whether or not either of you wanted to go to court. That is why filing Form A is often the single most effective response to a spouse who has spent months refusing to share their figures.

Form A is also the vehicle for the opposite situation. If you have agreed everything, you file Form A with a draft consent order and a Form D81 statement of information attached, and ask the court to approve the deal rather than decide it.

Do you actually need Form A — or a different form?

Form A is the right form for most financial applications connected to a divorce or dissolution, but not all of them. The form itself lists the exceptions on its first page.

Your situation	Form to use
You want the court to decide the finances, or to approve an agreed consent order	Form A
You are applying for a periodical payments (maintenance) order only, under s.23 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 or the equivalent civil partnership provisions	Form A1
You want to vary or discharge an existing periodical payments order only	Form A1
Financial provision under Part 1 of the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates’ Courts Act 1978	Form A1
Financial relief after an overseas divorce	Form D50F
Neglect or failure to maintain a spouse or child	Form D50C

There is one more question worth asking before you file anything: is the fight actually about disclosure, or about the split? If your ex simply will not produce their figures, Form A is the lever — see how the court forces financial disclosure. If you already have the numbers and the argument is about what is fair, mediation or a round-table negotiation will usually be faster and very much cheaper than a contested hearing.

The MIAM gateway: the step most people trip over

Before you can file Form A, you normally have to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) — and an authorised family mediator has to sign section 4 of the form to confirm you went. Without that signature, or a validly claimed exemption with evidence, the court will not process your application.

There are two ways past the gate, and the form is explicit about them. As Form A puts it, you must have attended a MIAM before making the application unless the financial order you are applying for “is for a consent order”, or “you are exempt from the requirement to attend a MIAM”.

That first exception matters more than people realise. If you and your ex have agreed the finances and are asking the court to approve a consent order, no MIAM is required. The guidance note on page 16 of the form says so directly.

If you are not filing by consent, section 3 of Form A sets out the exemption grounds, each with its own sub-section:

• 3a — Domestic abuse. The form lists the accepted evidence in detail: an arrest or caution for a domestic abuse offence, ongoing or concluded criminal proceedings, a protective injunction, a domestic abuse protection notice under section 22 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, a finding of fact, a letter from a health professional, an IDVA or ISVA, a refuge, a local authority or a MARAC — and, importantly, evidence of abuse “which relates to financial matters”. Economic abuse counts.
• 3b — Urgency. Risk to life, liberty or physical safety; or delay causing a significant risk of a miscarriage of justice, significant financial hardship, or the irretrievable loss of significant evidence.
• 3c — Previous attendance. You attended a MIAM or a non-court dispute resolution process about substantially the same dispute in the four months before applying. If it was an NCDR process, you need signed written confirmation from the provider.
• 3d — Other grounds. A short, closed list: the application is without notice; a child is a prospective party; you cannot attend online or by video-link and there is no authorised mediator with an office within fifteen miles, or none available within fifteen business days; or you are in prison, or subject to bail or licence conditions preventing contact.

Two practical points. Where an exemption needs evidence, that evidence has to go in with the application — the court reviews it before issuing. And the exemptions were deliberately narrowed by the Family Procedure Rules changes that took effect on 29 April 2024; grounds that used to work, such as the other person living abroad, no longer do. If you claim an exemption the court does not accept, expect to be sent back to a mediator, having lost several weeks.

For the meeting itself — what it costs, how long it takes and who attends — see what actually happens at a MIAM.

Form A section by section

Form A (05.26) runs to sixteen pages plus a guidance note, but a great deal of it is evidence lists for the domestic abuse exemption that will not apply to you. The parts everyone completes are shorter than the page count suggests.

Pages 1–2: the parties and the type of application

Your full name and your ex’s, the court, and the case number from the divorce application. Then the crucial early question: are you applying for an order by consent in the terms of a written agreement? If yes, you attach the draft order and Form D81, and the MIAM requirement falls away.

You also confirm whether the court has granted a conditional order and whether it has granted a final order, attaching a copy of each if so.

Pages 2–3: the orders you are asking for

This is a tick-list, and you tick everything you might need — not just what you expect to get. The options are:

• maintenance pending suit (interim maintenance while the case runs)
• a lump sum order
• a property adjustment order
• a settlement or transfer of property for the benefit of the children
• a periodical payments order together with other financial provision
• a pension sharing order
• a pension compensation sharing order

Leaving a box unticked is not fatal, but it creates avoidable friction later. If there is a pension of any size in the marriage, tick pension sharing even if you currently expect to offset it against the house — you can drop a claim far more easily than you can add one.

Page 2 also carries a newer question: do you believe your combined net assets, excluding pensions, are less than £250,000? That answer decides whether your case can be allocated to the express procedure described below.

Pages 3–4: children and property details

If you are asking for periodical payments for a child, you have to explain why the court has jurisdiction rather than the Child Maintenance Service — for example because the payments are for a stepchild, or top up a CMS assessment, or meet costs arising from a child’s disability or education. If you are seeking a property adjustment order over land, you give the address and the mortgage lender’s details.

Pages 5–6: addresses for service

Where documents should be sent, for both of you. If you do not want your address disclosed to your ex, leave it blank and file form C8 instead — and then check that nothing else you send in reveals it. A council tax bill attached as evidence has undone more than one C8.

Pages 7–14: the MIAM sections

Section 2 asks whether you attended a MIAM and, if not, whether you are claiming an exemption. Section 3 is where the exemption is specified and evidenced. Section 4 is completed and signed by the authorised family mediator, giving their FMC registration number and service details, and recording why mediation is not proceeding.

Page 14: the statement of truth

You sign to confirm you believe the facts stated are true, having read that “proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth”. It is the same warning that appears on Form E, and it carries the same weight — see what happens if you lie on a court financial form.

What Form A costs

As checked on 3 September 2026, the fee to apply for a financial order other than by consent was £321, and the fee for a financial order by consent was £62. Those figures come from the family court fees leaflet EX50, last updated on 13 July 2026.

Application	Fee	Fees order
Financial order, other than by consent	£321	5.4
Financial order by consent (consent order)	£62	5.1

Help with Fees can reduce or remove the fee if you are on a low income or certain benefits; there is a reference box for it at the top of page 1, so apply for the remission before you file rather than after. Fees change — check the current EX50 on GOV.UK on the day you send the form.

The fee is the small number. The variable cost is what happens next: a case that settles at or before the First Appointment costs a fraction of one that runs to a final hearing. That is worth holding in mind when you decide how much to argue about.

The timetable that starts the moment you file

Under rule 9.12 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010, the court fixes a First Appointment not less than 12 and not more than 16 weeks after the date the application is filed. A court officer serves the application on your ex within four days and notifies you both of the date.

Working backwards from that hearing:

When	What has to happen
Day 0	Form A filed and issued; fee paid
Within 4 days	Court serves the application and gives notice of the First Appointment
35 days before the hearing	Both parties file and exchange a completed, signed Form E with supporting documents
14 days before	Questionnaires, Form G (whether the hearing can be used as an FDR), chronology and statement of issues
7 days before	Form FM5 — each party’s written view on using non-court dispute resolution
Weeks 12–16	First Appointment

Form FM5 is a product of the same 2024 rule changes that tightened the MIAM exemptions. Courts can now adjourn a hearing to allow parties to try non-court dispute resolution, and an unreasonable refusal to engage can have costs consequences. Treat the FM5 as a real document, not a formality.

The 35-day Form E deadline is the one that hurts. Twelve weeks sounds generous until you request a pension CETV and are told it may take three months. Order valuations the week you file, not the week the deadline appears in your calendar — our Form E documents checklist shows what to start chasing. For what happens at the hearing itself, see what happens after Form E is exchanged.

The express procedure for smaller cases

If your combined net assets excluding pensions are under £250,000 and your case is filed at one of the pilot courts, it may be allocated to the express financial remedy procedure — a faster route with two hearings instead of three. This is why Form A now asks about the £250,000 threshold on page 2.

The pilot is governed by Practice Direction 36ZH. It came into force on 7 April 2025 and runs at most locations until the end of 2 April 2027, across a list of family court centres including Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle upon Tyne. The threshold is the combined value of both parties’ assets, excluding pension rights and Pension Protection Fund compensation, after deducting liabilities and mortgages.

The express timetable compresses matters considerably: financial statements are exchanged within 28 days of the application being filed, questionnaires follow within 14 days of that exchange, replies within a further 28 days, and open settlement proposals are due not less than 21 days before the first hearing, which is listed 16 to 20 weeks after filing, with a final hearing at 26 to 30 weeks.

The trade-off is real. A shorter route means less time to gather valuations and less room for a slow-moving pension provider. If you are in a pilot area and near the threshold, the case for having your disclosure ready before you file — rather than scrambling afterwards — is much stronger.

Mistakes that delay your application

The form warns, in terms, that failure to complete every question or state that it does not apply “could delay the case, as the court will have to ask you to provide the additional information required”. The recurring problems:

• No mediator signature and no exemption. The most common reason a Form A goes nowhere. Book the MIAM first; the signature belongs on the form you send, not on one you promise to follow up.
• Claiming an exemption without the evidence. Where evidence is required it must be submitted with the application. If you genuinely cannot obtain it, use the text box on page 14 to explain why rather than leaving it blank.
• Under-ticking the orders sought. Particularly pension sharing. Tick what you may need.
• Filing before the conditional order. A financial order cannot take effect until the divorce reaches the right stage. You can file Form A earlier, but check where your divorce has got to and attach what the form asks for.
• Treating the fee as the deadline. The real deadline is 35 days before a hearing you have not been given the date of yet. Start collecting bank statements, valuations and CETVs immediately.
• Skipping the checklist. Section 6 on page 16 is three questions. It catches most of the above.

The disclosure that follows Form A is where the work actually is: twenty-eight pages of financial detail, in duplicate, to a fixed deadline. Divvio turns that into a guided questionnaire that produces a court-ready Form E, calculating the section totals as you go. It is free to start and you only pay when you export.

When this needs a solicitor

Filling in Form A is administration, and plenty of people do it themselves. The judgement calls around it are a different matter. Get advice if there is a business, a trust, assets or income abroad, a defined benefit pension of any real size, a suspicion that assets are being moved, or any history of abuse — that last one because the exemption route and the special measures under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 are worth getting right first time. Advice on strategy at the start is usually far cheaper than representation at a final hearing.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a solicitor to fill in Form A?

No. Form A can be completed and filed by a litigant in person, and many are. The form has space for a solicitor’s details but does not require one. What a solicitor adds is judgement about which orders to seek and how to run the case — worth paying for where there is a business, a large pension, assets abroad or a disputed disclosure picture.

How much is the Form A court fee?

As checked on 3 September 2026, the fee for an application for a financial order other than by consent was £321, and £62 for a financial order by consent. Both figures are from the family court fees leaflet EX50, last updated on 13 July 2026. Help with Fees may reduce or remove the fee if you are on a low income or certain benefits.

Do I have to attend a MIAM before filing Form A?

Usually, yes. An authorised family mediator must sign section 4 of Form A to confirm you attended. There are two exceptions: applications for a consent order do not require a MIAM at all, and you can claim an exemption on the grounds set out in section 3 — domestic abuse, urgency, recent MIAM or NCDR attendance, or a small number of other grounds. Where an exemption needs evidence, it must be filed with the application.

What is the difference between Form A and Form A1?

Form A is for financial orders generally, including lump sums, property adjustment and pension sharing. Form A1 is used where you are applying for a periodical payments order only, applying to vary or discharge a periodical payments order only, or seeking financial provision under Part 1 of the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates’ Courts Act 1978.

What orders can I apply for on Form A?

Maintenance pending suit, a lump sum order, a property adjustment order, a settlement or transfer of property for the benefit of a child, a periodical payments order together with other financial provision, a pension sharing order and a pension compensation sharing order. You tick every order that may apply. It is easier to drop a claim later than to add one.

How long after Form A is the First Appointment?

Rule 9.12 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 requires the court to fix the First Appointment not less than 12 and not more than 16 weeks after the application is filed. Both parties must file and exchange Form E no later than 35 days before that hearing. In the express financial remedy pilot the first hearing is listed 16 to 20 weeks after filing instead.

Does my ex have to fill in Form A too?

No. Only one of you files Form A; the other becomes the respondent. But both of you must complete and exchange a Form E financial statement, and both are bound by the same court timetable. Being the respondent does not reduce your disclosure obligation by a single page.

Can I file Form A if we already agree?

Yes, and it is the normal route. You file Form A ticking the consent box, with the draft consent order and a Form D81 statement of information attached, and pay the lower consent fee. No MIAM is required for a consent application. A judge then reviews the agreement and approves it if it is fair.