How to Submit Form A Online | UK Guide 2026

If you have agreed your finances and want to submit Form A online, the honest answer depends entirely on who is sending it. Form A is the notice that opens your financial application at court, so before anything goes anywhere it helps to be clear on what the form does. This guide covers who can file online, what everyone else does instead, what has to travel with the form, and what the court does once it lands.

Can you submit Form A online?

Yes, but not personally. HM Courts and Tribunals Service has run a digital financial remedy service since 2018, and it works well. The catch is that it sits behind MyHMCTS, which is the case management platform for legal professionals. Registering requires an organisation account and a Payment by Account facility, neither of which an individual can set up.

So there are two real routes, and which one applies to you comes down to representation:

• Represented applicants: your solicitor lodges Form A and the supporting documents through the portal. For consent applications this is not optional. Practice Direction 41B mandates it.
• Applicants acting for themselves: you complete the paperwork and post it. HMCTS digitises it on arrival.

People often assume that because they applied for their divorce online, the financial side must work the same way. It does not. The divorce application and the financial application are two separate processes on two different systems.

Who can submit Form A online through MyHMCTS

Only legal representatives. To lodge a consent application, a solicitor signs in to MyHMCTS, starts a financial remedy case, enters the divorce case details and uploads PDF copies of the signed order, Form D81 and the conditional or final order. The fee is taken by Payment by Account. HMCTS sets out the full process in its guidance on lodging a consent application.

The advantage is visibility. The firm can see when the case is issued, when a judge picks it up and when the sealed order comes back, without ringing the court. Most represented consent applications are turned around quickly because nothing gets lost in a postbag.

How to submit Form A online: the steps in a consent application

If you are represented, here is what happens on your behalf. It is useful to know, because your solicitor will ask you for each item in turn.

1. The draft order is finalised and signed by both of you. Wet signatures or electronic signatures are both accepted, provided the signatures are genuine.
2. Form D81 is completed as a joint form, or as two separate forms if you would rather not share a document.
3. Form A is prepared and marked as an application by consent, which keeps it short.
4. The case is created on MyHMCTS and the documents are uploaded as PDFs, along with your conditional order.
5. The £62 fee is paid through the firm’s account.
6. Court staff check the file and issue it, then a judge reviews the papers.
7. The sealed order is returned through the portal, or the judge asks a question that needs answering before approval.

What to do if you are applying without a solicitor

Download the current version of Form A from the GOV.UK Form A page rather than reusing a copy someone sent you last year. HMCTS updates these forms regularly and courts do return applications made on withdrawn versions. The form itself tells you how many copies to send, and you should keep one for your own records.

Everything then goes by post to HMCTS Financial Remedy Service, PO Box 12746, Harlow, CM20 9QZ. That address is confirmed on the HMCTS financial remedy courts page, which also lists the regional courts used for contested applications. A tracked service is worth the few extra pounds, if only for your own peace of mind.

Some people include a short covering note explaining what is enclosed and confirming the application is by consent. It is not compulsory, though a clear cover letter does no harm and can save a query. If you want the wider picture of the whole submission stage, our guide to filing a consent order with the court walks through it in more detail.

What has to go with Form A

Form A is never sent on its own. A judge needs three things to approve a financial settlement, and a missing item is the most common reason an application comes back.

Document	What it does	Who signs it
Form A	Tells the court you are applying for a financial order and, in your case, that it is by consent	The applicant
The draft consent order	Sets out the agreement itself, including any clean break	Both parties
Form D81	Gives the judge the financial snapshot used to check the settlement is fair	Both parties, jointly or separately
Conditional order	Shows the divorce has reached the stage where a financial order can be made	Issued by the court

One point that catches people out: a judge cannot approve your financial order until the conditional order has been pronounced, and the order does not take effect until the final order is made. Most couples send the paperwork in once the conditional order arrives.

The court fee, and the one figure people mix up

There are two different fees here, and the difference is large.

Application	Fee from 13 July 2026
Financial order by consent (your agreed consent order)	£62
Financial order on notice (contested proceedings)	£321

Both figures took effect on 13 July 2026 and come from the Ministry of Justice fee update, correct as of July 2026. If you have agreed everything, you pay £62. The £321 figure applies to contested financial remedy proceedings, so do not budget for it on a consent application. If your income and savings are low, the Help with Fees scheme may cover some or all of the fee, and Form A has a box for your HWF reference number.

Do you need a MIAM before you submit Form A?

Not when you are applying by consent. The requirement to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting, which is the introductory meeting with an accredited mediator, applies to contested applications. Where you and your ex-partner have already agreed and are simply asking a judge to approve it, that requirement does not bite.

If you are still some way apart on the numbers, that changes things. A contested Form A does need a MIAM first, unless a specific exemption applies, and it costs £321 rather than £62.

What slows a Form A application down

Very few applications are refused outright. Plenty are delayed, and almost always for small, fixable reasons.

• Figures that do not match. If the D81 says the house is worth £420,000 and the order says £400,000, a judge will ask why before approving anything.
• An out of date form. Old versions get returned unissued.
• Missing pension detail. Any pension sharing order needs the relevant annex attached, and cash equivalent values need to be current.
• No conditional order enclosed. The court needs to see the divorce has reached the right stage.
• A missing signature. Both parties sign the draft order, not just the applicant.

What happens after you submit

Court staff check the application, issue it and allocate it to a judge. The judge reads Form A, the D81 and the draft order together, then either seals the order or raises a query. Nobody attends a hearing in a straightforward consent case, which surprises people who were bracing themselves for a court date.

Timescales vary by how busy the court is, and postal applications naturally add a few days at the front end. Our guide to how long a consent order takes sets out realistic expectations. Once the sealed order arrives, keep it somewhere safe. You will be asked for it by mortgage lenders and pension providers.

Frequently asked questions

Can I submit Form A online myself?

No. The online financial remedy service runs through MyHMCTS, which only accepts registered legal professionals. Individuals acting for themselves post Form A, the draft consent order and Form D81 to HMCTS Financial Remedy Service, PO Box 12746, Harlow, CM20 9QZ.

Can I email Form A to the court instead?

Email is not the published route for lodging a new consent application. HMCTS asks people acting for themselves to post the application to the Harlow address. Once a case is open, a court may ask you to email further documents, but that is a different situation.

Is a posted application treated less favourably than an online one?

No. HMCTS scans postal applications into the same digital system that legal professionals use, so your file is handled alongside theirs rather than on a separate paper queue.

How much does it cost to submit Form A?

The fee is £62 for a financial order by consent and £321 for a contested application, as of July 2026. Help with Fees may reduce or remove the fee if your income and savings are low.

Does my ex-partner have to sign Form A?

Only the applicant signs Form A. Both of you sign the draft consent order, and both provide the information in Form D81, either on one joint form or on two separate forms.

Can I submit Form A before my conditional order?

You can send the paperwork in, but a judge cannot make a financial order until the conditional order has been pronounced, and the order does not take effect until the final order. Most people wait for the conditional order first.

The short version

Submitting Form A online is a solicitor’s route, not a public one. If you are represented, your solicitor lodges everything through MyHMCTS and tracks it there. If you are doing this yourself, you post the same three documents to Harlow with the £62 fee, and the court digitises them on arrival. Either way, the outcome depends far less on the delivery method than on whether Form A, the draft order and Form D81 tell the judge one consistent story. Our other court forms guides cover the individual documents in more depth.