Form E and financial disclosure done right

General information for people handling their own family law case in England & Wales — not legal advice. Rules and forms change; check current versions on GOV.UK and consider getting advice for your specific situation.

Form E is the financial statement the court requires in financial remedy proceedings after divorce or dissolution. Getting it right matters more than almost anything else you will do in the case, because everything that follows — negotiation, mediation, the first appointment, the final hearing — is built on what you disclose here.

What Form E requires

Form E (the "Financial Statement") is filed under the Family Procedure Rules (Part 21 and Practice Direction 21A). Each party must complete and exchange their own Form E and file a copy with the court, normally no later than 35 days before the first appointment.

It asks you to set out, with figures and supporting evidence:

You — your personal details, health, and any dependants.
Assets: the former matrimonial home and any other property (with current values and mortgage balances), bank and building society accounts, savings, premium bonds, ISAs, investments and shares, life and endowment policies, business interests, and pensions.
Debts: loans, overdrafts, credit cards, and any liabilities.
Income: earnings, self-employed income, rental income, benefits, and pension income.
Needs: what you say you need to rehouse yourself and meet day-to-day expenditure, with a budget.
Other relevant facts: contributions, conduct in exceptional cases, inheritances or expected inheritances, and any significant changes in the last 12 months or expected in the next 12 months.
Timeline: a chronological statement of your relationship, separation, and any key events.
A statement of truth, signed — see below.

You must give current values and explain how you arrived at them (e.g. a valuation basis for property, latest statements for accounts). Where you estimate, say so and explain the estimate.

The duty of full and frank disclosure

Signing Form E means signing a statement of truth: you confirm the disclosure is full, frank, and truthful. This duty is ongoing — if circumstances change or you discover you left something out, you must update your disclosure promptly. It applies whether you are the applicant or respondent, and even where you hope to settle without a hearing.

"Full and frank" means voluntarily revealing everything material, not just answering the questions literally. Hiding an asset "until they ask" is exactly the behaviour the rules are designed to penalise. Deliberate non-disclosure can unravel an entire settlement years later — see the consequences section below.

Courts have repeatedly said that the party who makes disclosure difficult or evasive forfeits the benefit of the doubt, and the court can draw adverse inferences against them.

Documents to attach

The main documents are normally required at the same time as Form E (they are listed in the form itself):

Last 12 months of bank and building society statements for each account.
Mortgage statements and a current redemption figure for each property.
Pension statements / cash equivalent transfer values (CETV) obtained within the last 12 months, for each pension.
Latest P60 and, if self-employed or a company owner, the last two years of accounts and tax returns.
Life insurance / endowment policy surrender values.
Evidence of any other significant assets: shareholdings, business valuations, trusts, premium bonds, cryptocurrency holdings.
Property valuations (e.g. estate agent appraisals) where you rely on a figure.

Attach documents in the order they are referred to, number the pages, and cross-refer them in the Form E answers (e.g. "see pages 14–18"). Bundles that are clearly organised earn credibility; shoeboxes of unlabelled statements do the opposite.

Common mistakes

Valuing the house at the purchase price instead of a current market estimate.
Omitting assets because "they're in my ex's name" or "the account is empty now" — disclose the interest anyway.
Forgetting pensions, one of the most valuable and most overlooked assets.
Rounding everything vaguely with no documents to back the figures up.
Understating income or overstateing needs (or vice versa) — exaggeration destroys credibility just as effectively as concealment.
Late filing — missing the Form E deadline risks costs sanctions and adjournments.
Ignoring the "changes in the last 12 months" section, which is a common route by which undisclosed matters later surface.
Editing answers to look better rather than being accurate — the other side will test every figure.

Consequences of non-disclosure

The courts treat dishonest or incomplete disclosure extremely seriously:

Costs consequences — the court can order you to pay the other side's costs, in whole or in part, for the hearings and work caused by your non-disclosure.
Set-aside of orders — a financial consent order or a judgment obtained on the basis of incomplete or false disclosure can be set aside (even years later), putting you back to square one. Cases like Sharland v Sharland [2015] UKSC 60 confirm that non-disclosure tainting a deal can void it.
Contempt of court — a false statement of truth is contempt of court, punishable by a fine, an order to do something (committal), or in the most serious cases imprisonment.
Adverse inferences — the court may simply assume the undisclosed asset is worth what the other side claims, or more.
Loss of credibility that colours every disputed issue for the rest of the case.

If you realise you have made an honest mistake, correct it immediately and in writing — voluntary correction is viewed very differently from discovery by the other side.

Tips for litigants in person

1. Start gathering documents early. Banks may take weeks to supply 12 months of statements; pensions providers can take even longer for a CETV. 2. Use a spreadsheet to track every asset, account, and document reference before you start filling the form in. 3. Explain your figures in the answer boxes — the narrative is where a LiP can show the court they have been careful and honest. 4. Don't guess at values you can verify — a small valuation fee for the house can save an argument at the first appointment. 5. Disclose even things that seem unhelpful. The duty is frank; the court respects candour and punishes concealment. 6. Keep a copy of everything you file, and diarise the exchange and filing deadlines immediately. 7. Update rather than amend silently. If something changes before the hearing, send a short updated statement to the court and the other side. 8. Get a one-off review. Even without full representation, a solicitor or barrister will often review a draft Form E for a fixed fee — cheap insurance against a costly omission.

Last reviewed: August 2026. Check the latest Form E and Practice Direction 21A on GOV.UK / justice.gov.uk before filing.