Respondent in divorce

If you have recently received divorce papers (to include a divorce petition and statement of arrangements for children) from a court you will have to complete a D11 form, also known as an Acknowledgment of Service form. We can assist you if you are unsure how to complete this form.

You have 14 days to return this form to the court if you are in the UK or 21 days if you are resident abroad.

The D11 consists of 10 questions which you need to answer to ensure you that get your say in the divorce proceedings.

If you do not return your acknowledgement of service or return it late, this may cause delays to the divorce. However, this will not necessarily stop your spouse proceeding with the divorce. The court however needs evidence that you have received the papers. Therefore, the Petitioner i.e. your spouse could have the papers personally served upon you, or make a separated application for “deemed service”, “dispense of service” or “substituted service” depending on the case. This would incur unnecessary additional legal costs which the court may order you to repay.

How much will this cost?

We will charge you a one off fee of £120 + VAT (£144 in total) for the above service, which you can pay by cash, cheque, transfer or debit/credit card. Please however note that there will be a 2% surcharge for credit card payments. If you wish to make a card payment, then this can be done when we first contact you. Alternatively, we can email you our bank details upon request to enable you to make a transfer.

We can assist you in completing the acknowledgement of service.

Once you have ordered, we will contact you to complete your purchase. When your purchase is completed, we will email you the relevant documentation to enable you to:

1. Download, complete and return our Divorce Questionnaire
2. Complete our Evidence of Identity Form which is at the back of the Divorce Questionnaire and return the required documentation along with our divorce questionnaire.
3. We will contact you and ask you to provide a copy of the Divorce Petition/Statement of Arrangements (if applicable) and your Acknowledgement of Service Form (in form D11).
4. We will then complete the acknowledgement of service on your behalf and return it back to you for signature and onward transmission to the court.
5. We will advise you if there is any issue as to costs being claimed against you by your spouse.
6. We would be happy to let you have our “standard” letters to file your acknowledgement of service with the court and inform your spouse or his/her solicitors accordingly.

For further information, please contact one of our family solicitors, Severine Vincent or Kate Booth on 01926 422 101 or visit our Contact page. Alternatively, you can send Severine or Kate a message direct using departments contact form.