Financial Disclosure on Divorce: Form E Explained

If you and your ex-partner cannot agree how to divide your money and property, and one of you applies to court for a financial order, you will both be asked to complete a Form E. It is the official financial statement used in divorce and civil partnership proceedings in England and Wales, and it runs to nearly 30 pages.

It has a reputation for being daunting, and that reputation is partly deserved. But it is really just a structured way of setting out everything you own, everything you owe, what you earn and what you need. This guide explains what the form covers, when you actually have to complete one, what evidence you need to attach, and the mistakes that cause the most delay.

What is Form E?

Form E is a sworn statement of your financial circumstances. Both parties complete their own copy and exchange them at the same time, so neither of you sees the other’s figures before writing your own. It is prescribed under the Family Procedure Rules 2010, which set out when it must be filed and what it must contain.

The form exists because the court cannot make a fair decision about financial settlements without a full picture of both sides. Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 lists the factors a judge must weigh up, including income, earning capacity, property, needs, standard of living and the length of the marriage. Form E is how that information reaches the court.

There are two variations. Form E1 is used where the standard financial remedy procedure does not apply, and Form E2 is used when you are applying to vary an existing order. Most people going through a divorce will be dealing with the standard Form E.

Do you have to complete a Form E?

Only if the court is involved in your finances. Form E becomes compulsory once a financial remedy application is made, and you can be found in contempt of court if you are ordered to file one and do not.

If you are sorting your finances out by agreement, you do not need it. Couples who reach a settlement through negotiation or mediation usually exchange disclosure using simpler forms or a shared schedule of assets, then record the agreement in a consent order. That route uses a Form D81, a much shorter summary of both parties finances, and the court fee for a consent order application is currently £62.

This is the point where the two routes diverge sharply on cost and stress, and it is worth thinking it through properly before you commit. Our comparison of the solicitor-led and mediation routes sets out the practical differences.

Since the Family Procedure Rules changed in April 2024, the court also expects you to have properly considered non-court dispute resolution before and during proceedings, and to say so in writing. Judges can pause a case and order the parties to try mediation, so the two routes are no longer entirely separate.

What Form E asks you for

The form is divided into five parts, and each builds on the last.

Part 1 covers general information: your details, the dates of your marriage and separation, your children, your health, your education and your employment history.

Part 2 is the financial detail, and it is the longest section. You list the family home and any other property, mortgages, bank and savings accounts, investments, life insurance policies, personal belongings worth more than £500, business interests, pensions, and every liability including credit cards and loans. You then set out your income from employment, self-employment, investments, benefits and any other source.

Part 3 is your financial requirements. You set out your income needs going forward, month by month, and any capital needs such as rehousing costs or a car. People rush this section, and it is the one that carries the most weight in negotiations.

Part 4 is where you flag anything else the court should know: significant changes since separation, the standard of living during the marriage, contributions each of you made, and any conduct you say should affect the outcome. Conduct is only relevant in genuinely serious cases.

Part 5 is a short summary of the order you are asking the court to make.

The documents you need to gather

Form E is only as good as the evidence attached to it. Start collecting early, because a few of these take weeks to arrive.

• Twelve months of statements for every bank, savings and ISA account
• A property valuation, or three estate agent appraisals, for each property you own
• A mortgage redemption statement, not simply the balance, so early repayment charges show
• A cash equivalent value for each pension, dated within the last twelve months
• Your last three payslips and your most recent P60, or two years of accounts if you are self-employed
• Statements for credit cards, loans and any other debts

Pension valuations are the usual bottleneck. Providers can take several weeks to produce a cash equivalent value, and a valuation older than twelve months will usually need refreshing before a final hearing, so request them as soon as you know proceedings are likely.

Deadlines and what happens next

Once a financial application is issued, the court sets a timetable. Both parties must file their completed Form E at court and exchange it with each other at least 35 days before the First Appointment, which is the first directions hearing.

After exchange, each of you can raise a questionnaire asking the other to explain gaps or produce missing documents. The First Appointment then deals with what further evidence is needed, whether valuations or a pension report are required, and how the case proceeds. Most cases move on to a Financial Dispute Resolution hearing, where a judge gives an indication of a likely outcome to help the parties settle. The great majority settle at or before that point, without a contested final hearing.

The duty of disclosure is ongoing. If your circumstances change materially after you file, for example you are made redundant or receive an inheritance, you have to tell the other side and the court.

Common mistakes people make on Form E

Leaving something out. This is the serious one. The duty is full and frank disclosure, and it is not optional. Where a settlement has been reached on the back of incomplete information, the courts have been willing to set the resulting order aside years later, which means the whole exercise is repeated at your own cost. Disclose the dormant savings account, the side business and the shares you have forgotten about.

Using an optimistic property valuation. Estate agent appraisals vary widely, and a figure chosen to suit your argument invites a challenge and a formal valuation you will then pay for.

Guessing at the budget section. Part 3 asks for real monthly figures. Work from bank statements rather than memory, and include the costs that only appear when you separate, such as rent, childcare or a second car.

Treating pensions as an afterthought. Pensions are the second-largest asset after the family home, and cash equivalent values do not always reflect what a pension is genuinely worth to share. In larger or defined benefit cases an actuarial report is usually needed.

Filing late. Missing the 35-day deadline delays everyone, adds cost, and does not create a good impression at the First Appointment.

What it costs, and where to get help

A Form E prepared by a solicitor typically costs somewhere between £1,000 and £3,000 depending on how complicated your finances are and how many questions follow. Fixed-fee alternatives exist: Family Law Service offers Form E completion for £250, which includes going through each section with you and identifying the evidence you still need to obtain.

If what you actually want to know is whether a proposed settlement is fair, disclosure is only the first half of the answer. A barrister’s opinion on your financial settlement looks at the completed picture and tells you what a court would be likely to do with it.

In summary

Form E is long, but it is not complicated in the way people fear. It is an inventory of your financial life, backed up by paperwork, and the difficulty is mostly in gathering the evidence rather than answering the questions. Give yourself several weeks, request pension valuations first, be completely open about what you have, and take the budget section seriously.

And remember that most separating couples never complete one. If you can reach agreement between yourselves, whether directly or with help, a far shorter route through the divorce process is open to you, and the rules introduced in recent changes to family law are designed to push couples towards exactly that.