Online divorce applications only from 13th September

Practitioners have been reminded that HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) will be returning any paper divorce applications after Tuesday 5th October as the shift toward digitisation continues apace. 

From Monday 13 September 2021, applications for divorce must be submitted online via MyHMCTS rather than the paper D8 form.

HMCTS have confirmed they will continue to process paper applications during a transition period between Tuesday 14th September and Monday 4th October, but thereafter all applications must be submitted online unless they fall under the following exceptions which will continue to be paper-processed:

• Civil Partnership
• Judicial Separation
• Nullity

The Law Society website provides a step-by-step guide to completing account set up alongside some further guidance on applying for a divorce on MyHMCTS.

Signing up to MyHMCTS

HMCTS strongly encourages signing up to MyHMCTS in good time for September by following these steps:

• check that your firm is not already signed up to MyHMCTS (firms with probate departments may already have accounts); if your firm is using MyHMCTS, request a username and password from your administrator
• if your firm has not signed up, register for the service – your firm needs to nominate an administrator to set the organisation up and manage the account
• to register, organisations must have an active fee account (also known as payment by account, or PBA); registering for an account is easy and accounts are usually confirmed within three working days – if you have any questions about setting up an account, email MyHMCTSsupport@justice.gov.uk
• once an account has been created, the administrator will be able to manage the account, add additional users and manage permissions

Help and support

Guidance on applying for a divorce on MyHMCTS is available from the GOV.UK website.

You can also download the guide: ‘MyHMCTS: online case management for legal professionals’ (PDF 585 KB).

For further support, contact HMCTSFinancialRemedy@justice.gov.uk.