Written by Advicenow
This 30-minute film is for people going to court about their finances as part of a divorce or ending a civil partnership and don't have a lawyer to help. It is a step-by-step guide to how you fill out your financial statement (Form E) yourself. Watch Rosemary as she completes her own form and explains what details you put where, and what all the gobbledygook actually means.
Choose section
How to fill in your financial statement (Form E)
You have to fill in a financial statement (Form E) if you are going to court in England or Wales to get a financial order after you’ve split up with your ex-husband, wife or civil partner. If you're doing this without the help of a lawyer, it’s a very daunting prospect. So that’s why we’ve made this film to help. Watch Rosemary as she completes her own form and explains what details you put where, and what all the gobbledygook actually means. Rosemary talks about a helpful checklist in the film. You can now find this in the extended version of our guide about going to court for a financial settlement as part of your divorce.
Beware, you have to send this form to the court at least 35 days before your first hearing, and some of the evidence you need to include can take months to arrive - especially information about any pensions. It is therefore best to watch this film and start working on it as soon as possible.
This is just one of our resources to help you manage your separation and divorce, and save you stress and money.
Take a look at our other helpful guides:
A guide to applying for an order to settle your finances on divorce
A short film about what happens to pensions when you get divorced
A guide about how family mediation works and what to expect when you try it
A guide that helps you apply to court about arrangements for your children when you separate
The film supports our guide to going to court for a financial order to finalise your finances when you divorce or end a civil partnership. The guide also talks about how to do your financial statement, as well as explaining, step-by-step, how to get a financial order.
Through the guide, at the most important points, you can access our panel of expert family law solicitors for tailored legal advice at a reduced fixed-fee price. As you read through the guide you can get expert advice on:
- Form E and how to obtain the more complicated bits of information you need.
- Any questions you have about filling in the form.
- How to complete part 4.
- Any extra reports you may need and how to get them.
- What your next steps should be.
To read more on our Affordable Advice service and how it works take a look at Getting affordable advice from a family law solicitor via Advicenow.
Produced March 2018
Reviewed September 2022
Reviewed November 2024
If we’ve helped you, please help us
Please tell us about your problem. Knowing more about our users and what you found useful helps us get funding to keep our website going. We also want to hear if there is anything you didn’t like or couldn’t find so that we can be even more useful. It is OK to skip questions – but please press ‘submit’ at the end as otherwise we don’t get your response.
About this film
Disclaimer
The information in this guide applies to England and Wales and is for general purposes only. The law may be different if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The law is complicated. We have simplified things in the guide to give you an idea of how the law applies to you if you are a young worker. Please don't rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law or as a substitute for getting legal advice about what to do in the specific circumstances of your case.
The quotes and cases we refer to are not always real but show a typical situation. We hope they help you think about how to deal with your own situation.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Family Justice Council for funding this film. We would like to thank all those who provided feedback on the script.
The 2022 review of this film was funded by the Litigant in Person Support Strategy.
The 2024 review of this film was funded by the Ministry of Justice via the Online Support and Advice grant.
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
How to fill in form E
What an excellent plain English video, thank you. I found it very reassuring and it made the form E so much less intimidating.
AliR on the 07 / 11 / 2022
Life saver
Had to fill form E in, when I recieved it I panicked but when I came across Rosemary's video, Rosemary went through it step by step and made it look so easy. I would recommend everyone watching this before filling form E in.
Dave on the 25 / 10 / 2022
filling in form E
Thank you very much for the step by step guide. Very helpful
Rachel on the 25 / 09 / 2022
Brilliant work!
Thank you so much for taking the time to put this guide together. Honestly, this has helped me immeasurably. Solicitors aren't affordable to most people and much of this stuff is simply understanding the language, requirements and format of legal documents.
You have done a great service to the public.
E Golden on the 29 / 12 / 2021
Brilliant
It's daunting when you get the information from the ex-solicitor and their demands that the form is to be filled in by a certain date, this video is a huge help, thank you very much for doing this.
Peter on the 22 / 12 / 2021
A must read if you are going to represent yourself!
Well paced and practicle guide - thank you!
Nadim H on the 14 / 12 / 2021
Brilliant
So glad I found this. It has been really helpful. Thank you!
L on the 21 / 10 / 2021
How to complete Form E
Outstanding! So clear. Really helpful. Thank you so much.
Susan on the 27 / 07 / 2021
Thank you so much
Amazing - made it so much clearer!
H on the 06 / 07 / 2021
Superb!
Excellent guidance. The best so far. Good job!
Tanomaky on the 13 / 02 / 2021
Pages
Add new review
Donation Component
Can you help us to keep helping people like you?
We rely on donations to keep guides like this up-to-date and available for everyone who needs them.