The documents that have to be filed with the court are:
1 The original, signed, divorce petition.
2 One extra copy of the petition for every other party to the proceedings, so one copy if you have not named a co¬respondent and two copies if you have.
3 The original, signed, statement of arrangements for children form, if one has been prepared – see above.
4 A copy of the statement of arrangements for children form.
5 Your original marriage certificate, or a certified copy (not a photocopy). If you do not have your original marriage certificate then you will have to obtain a certified copy from the Register Office where the marriage took place or,
if you were not married in a Register Office, the Office local to where the marriage took place, or from the church, if the Register Office does not yet have the certificate. There is a fee of £7 payable for a certified copy marriage certificate. Note that if you were married abroad and your marriage certificate is in a foreign language, then you will also need an English translation, certified by a notary public.
6 Copies of any court orders referred to in the divorce petition.
You should retain a copy of every document that you file, including the marriage certificate.
You will need to pay the court fee of £300 when filing the divorce papers. As with all court fees, cheques should be made payable to ‘H.M. Courts Service’. If you are on a low income, then you may be entitled to a fee exemption. To apply for a fee exemption you will need to complete a fee exemption form, which you can obtain from the court office.
The divorce papers and fee can be filed either by post or by attending the court office personally.
Note that, as mentioned above, a divorce petition cannot be issued until one year has elapsed from the date of the marriage. Accordingly, if you have not yet been married for a year then you will have to wait until one year and a day after the date of the marriage before filing the divorce papers (which should be dated with the date they are filed).