To complete Form E, gather twelve months of bank statements, recent property valuations, payslips or tax returns, pension Cash Equivalent Transfer Values, and statements for every debt and investment before you open the form. Then work through its five sections in order, verify the totals, sign the statement of truth, and file and exchange with the other party at least 35 days before the First Appointment. Form E is the standardized financial disclosure both parties use when applying for a financial remedy order during a divorce or civil partnership dissolution in England and Wales, and the judge reads the two forms side by side.
When You Need Form E
Form E is required whenever a contested application for a financial order is made under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 or the Civil Partnership Act 2004. The form itself states it should only be used for financial order applications made as part of divorce, dissolution, annulment, or judicial separation in England and Wales, or for financial relief after an overseas divorce.1HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Form E – Financial Statement
If you and your ex-partner already agree on the finances and are applying for a consent order, the court does not require a formal Form E exchange. You still owe a duty of full disclosure, and many solicitors recommend completing one voluntarily so the agreement is harder to set aside later.
Form E1 is a different form, not a shorter version. It covers financial remedy applications outside divorce or dissolution, such as applications under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989.2HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Form E1 – Financial Statement For a divorce or dissolution case, use Form E.
Documents to Gather Before You Open the Form
Most delays happen because people start filling in the form before they have the paperwork. Chasing missing documents after the exchange deadline puts you at an immediate disadvantage, so collect everything first.
Property Valuations and Mortgage Statements
For each property you own or co-own, including the family home, you need a valuation obtained within the last six months. If you cannot provide one, the form asks for your own realistic estimate of current market value.1HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Form E – Financial Statement Estate agent valuations are commonly used at this stage. A full RICS surveyor report is not usually required unless the property is unusual or the other side challenges your figure. You also need the most recent mortgage statement for each property so you can work out equity: market value minus outstanding loan.
Twelve Months of Bank Statements
List every current, savings, building society, and National Savings account you hold, alone or jointly, including any account with a nominal or overdrawn balance. Twelve consecutive months of statements is the standard, because courts and solicitors expect to see a full year’s pattern of deposits and spending. Overdrawn accounts belong in the bank accounts part of section 2, not in the liabilities part.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E
Income Evidence
If you are employed, collect your most recent P60 and last three payslips. If you are self-employed, you need the last two years of tax returns or audited accounts. Together these let the court see both current earnings and your earning capacity over time.
Pension Cash Equivalent Transfer Values
For every pension you hold, whether workplace, personal, or state, request a Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) from the provider. The CETV shows what the pension would be worth if transferred to another scheme, and it must not be more than one year old at the date of the First Appointment.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E Providers can take up to three months to process a CETV request, so contact them early.4NHS Business Services Authority. Divorce or Dissolution of a Civil Partnership and Your Pension Missing or stale pension valuations are one of the most common reasons cases get delayed at the First Appointment.
Insurance, Investments, and Debts
For every life insurance or endowment policy, get the surrender or maturity value from the provider. For ISAs, shares, and other investments, get recent statements showing current values. For each debt, whether a credit card, personal loan, car finance, or money owed to HMRC, get a statement showing the outstanding balance and the monthly repayment.
Business Interests
If you own or part-own a business, you need to disclose its nature, your percentage share, and its estimated value. Attach the most recent accounts and tax returns. For holding companies, partnerships, or private company shares, the court may later direct a formal valuation, but your initial Form E must still give the best figures you have.
Working Through the Five Sections
Form E is divided into five parts.1HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Form E – Financial Statement Knowing the shape of the whole thing before you start makes it far less intimidating.
Section 1: General Information
Personal details, marriage or partnership dates, children, health issues, living arrangements, and existing court orders. Two points trip people up. You must disclose whether you are living with a new partner or plan to within the next six months. This is not optional, and the court treats omission seriously. Health details are only required if a physical or mental condition is relevant to the financial outcome; the guidance says the court does not need to know about minor ailments.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E If there is a Child Maintenance Service calculation or any order or agreement about child support, include it, and say if a decision is still pending.
Section 2: Financial Details
This is the largest section and the heart of the form. Work through it part by part.
For property (2.1 and 2.2), enter the address, your estimate of market value, the mortgage balance, your share of the equity, and any co-owners. Attach valuations obtained within the last six months, or explain why you cannot.1HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Form E – Financial Statement
For bank accounts (2.3), list every account, even ones with a trivial or negative balance. For investments (2.4), give current values. For life insurance (2.5), give surrender or maturity values. For pensions (2.13), attach the CETV from each provider and list any Pension Protection Fund compensation entitlement. You may only rely on a pension valuation if it will still be less than a year old at the First Appointment date.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E
Section 2.14 catches anything that does not fit neatly elsewhere, including assets that cannot easily be converted into cash. If you are unsure whether something counts as realisable, include it here and let the judge decide.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E
The section closes with two summaries: a capital summary (all assets minus all liabilities) and an estimated income summary for the next twelve months. Check these totals against the figures above. Judges notice inconsistencies immediately.
If you are a beneficiary of a trust, hold assets through a company, or have an interest in a family settlement, disclose it. The court can look beyond legal ownership to beneficial interests, and failing to mention a trust is one of the quickest routes to non-disclosure allegations.
Section 3: Financial Requirements
Set out what you need to live on. The income needs table asks for a detailed monthly budget covering housing, council tax, utilities, food, transport, clothing, childcare, and finance payments for goods bought on credit.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E Capital needs cover one-off costs such as buying a new home, furnishing it, or retraining.
Be realistic. Courts are experienced at spotting inflated budgets, and an extravagant needs schedule undermines your credibility on the rest of the form. Do not lowball either. These figures directly influence the order the judge makes.
Sections 4 and 5: Other Information and Order Sought
Section 4 asks you to describe the standard of living during the marriage in your own words rather than legal language, the contributions you made including non-financial ones such as caring for children and managing the home, and any plans to remarry or cohabit.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E Section 5 is where you state the order you want: a lump sum, property transfer, pension sharing order, or periodical payments.
Signing the Statement of Truth and Attaching Documents
Form E must be verified by a statement of truth before filing.5Justice UK. Part 9 – Applications for a Financial Remedy By signing, you confirm that the information you have given is a full, frank, clear, and accurate disclosure of your financial circumstances.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E This is not a formality. Deliberate omissions or false statements can amount to contempt of court, carrying fines and, in extreme cases, imprisonment.
Attach copies of the supporting documents, not originals. Keep the originals safe, because the other party and the court may ask to inspect them later. If any document is unavailable when you file, add a short note in the form explaining why, and provide it as soon as you can.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E
Filing and Exchanging With the Other Party
Both parties must simultaneously exchange completed Form Es with each other and file them with the court no later than 35 days before the First Appointment.5Justice UK. Part 9 – Applications for a Financial Remedy The simultaneous exchange is deliberate. Neither side gets to see the other’s finances before showing their own.
If the case is being managed through MyHMCTS, the online court portal, upload your Form E and all exhibits there. The guidance is explicit: do not submit documents directly to the financial remedy centre.6GOV.UK. Managing a Case – Contested Name each file clearly, for example “JaneSmith-FormE-01-05-26”, and select “Form E and Exhibit” as the document type for bank statements, payslips, and other financial evidence.
Filing Form E itself does not carry a separate fee, but the financial remedy application that triggers the process does. A contested application costs £313; a consent application costs £60.7GOV.UK. Family Court Fees (EX50) If paying would cause hardship, you can apply for a fee remission through the Help with Fees scheme, which is means-tested against your savings, income, and any benefits you receive.8GOV.UK. Get Help Paying Court and Tribunal Fees
Missing the 35-day deadline is taken seriously. The court can make a costs order against you, and persistent lateness gives the judge reason to draw unfavourable conclusions about your willingness to be transparent.3HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Notes to Form E
What Filing Commits You To
Filing Form E is not the end of your disclosure obligation. The duty of full and frank disclosure runs continuously until a final order is sealed. If your circumstances change materially after you file, whether you inherit money, receive a bonus, lose your job, sell an asset, or take on a significant new debt, you must tell the court and the other party promptly. A final order can be reopened years later if it emerges that one party hid a material change, under the principle set out by the House of Lords in Livesey v Jenkins.
The penalties for non-disclosure escalate with seriousness. At the lighter end, the court draws adverse inferences, assuming the hidden assets are worth whatever figure it considers appropriate, which usually works against the person who concealed them. Costs orders can follow. In more serious cases, a final order can be set aside entirely. At the extreme, contempt proceedings can follow, because a signed statement of truth means a deliberate falsehood is a lie to the court. In Young v Young, a party who failed to disclose assets adequately received a six-month prison sentence.
One further point on the paperwork you attach. Bank statements often contain information about third parties. You cannot unilaterally redact those details. If you believe a third party’s privacy justifies withholding specific information, the Family Procedure Rules require you to set out in writing the right or duty you are claiming and the grounds for it. The other party can challenge the redaction, and the court will decide. Redacting without following this process is treated as non-disclosure.