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You get a final order or decree absolute when you end a marriage or civil partnership in England or Wales. You’ll need it if you remarry or have to prove your marital status.

If you’ve lost your original final order or decree absolute, you can apply for a copy.

How you apply depends on:

• what you know about your final order or decree absolute
• if you know which court handled your divorce, annulment or dissolution

Check which court you should apply to and what you’ll need.

If your marriage or civil partnership ended in Scotland or Northern Ireland

There’s a different way to get proof your marriage or civil partnership has ended. Find out how to:

How you check which court to apply to depends on whether you know the case number for your divorce, annulment or dissolution.

If you know the case number

Your should apply to either:

• - if your case number is 16 digits
• the court that handled your divorce - if your case number is not 16 digits

You should include:

• your name and address
• the case number
• how you want to pay

You’ll get the copy within a week after the service centre or court gets your payment.

It costs £11.

Pay by cheque or postal order

Make the cheque or postal order payable to ‘HM Courts & Tribunals Service’ and send it to the service centre or court.

Pay by credit or debit card

You’ll be told how to pay after you apply. Your search will not be completed until you’ve paid.

If you do not know the case number

If you do not know the case number for your divorce, annulment or dissolution, how you get a copy of your final order or decree absolute depends on when the application was made.

If it was made:

• online after January 2019 - apply to the
• by post after April 2022 - apply to the
• at any other time - apply to the court that handled your divorce

You should include your name and address and how you want to pay.

Give the service centre or court the date you think the case happened. They will search 5 years of records either side of that date.

If you cannot give them a date, they will search the last 10 years of records.

It costs £65 for each 10 year period you search.

Pay by cheque or postal order

Make the cheque or postal order payable to ‘HM Courts & Tribunals Service’ and send it to the service centre or court.

Pay by credit or debit card

You’ll be told how to pay after you apply. Your search will not be completed until you’ve paid.

If you do not know which court or Divorce Service Centre handled the divorce, dissolution or annulment, you can apply to the Bury St Edmunds Divorce Unit to search for a copy of the final order or decree absolute.

There’s a different way to apply for a copy of a decree absolute or final order if you know which court handled the divorce.

How much it costs

It costs £65 for each 10 year period you search. If you want to search for a longer period, you’ll need to submit another application.

How to pay

After you’ve applied, you can pay using:

• a debit or credit card
• a cheque or postal order
• the Payment By Account (PBA) if you’re a solicitor

Your search will not be completed until you’ve paid.

Pay by debit or credit card

If you apply online, you’ll be told how to pay after you apply.

If you apply by post, the form will ask you to provide a phone number so the Bury St Edmunds Divorce Unit can call you to take your payment. Or you can call the Bury St Edmunds Divorce Unit to make the payment.

Pay by cheque or postal order

Make the cheque or postal order payable to ‘HM Courts & Tribunals Service’ and send it to the Bury St Edmunds Divorce Unit.

What you’ll get

You’ll get a certificate of the search with a copy of the final order or decree absolute by post, usually within 45 days after the court gets your payment.

If the court cannot find a final order or decree absolute, you’ll get a ‘no trace’ certificate instead.

Before you start

You’ll need to provide:

• your name and contact details
• the address you need the copy of the final order or decree absolute to be sent to
• the name of the person who applied for divorce, annulment or dissolution
• the name of the person who responded to the application
• the search start and end dates

The search will be quicker if you can provide:

• the date of the marriage
• the date the divorce, annulment or dissolution application was filed
• the date and the court in which the conditional order or decree nisi was granted
• the date the final order or decree absolute was granted

Apply online

Use the online service to apply for a search.

Apply by post

Fill in form D440 and return it by post or email to the address on the form.