Form D70: Declaration of Marital or Civil Partnership Status

At a glance

• What it is: an application under section 55 of the Family Law Act 1986 (marriage) or section 58 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (civil partnership) for the court to declare a person's marital or civil partnership status.
• What it is not: a divorce, dissolution or nullity application — a declaration does not end a marriage or civil partnership.
• Who can apply: either party to the marriage or civil partnership, or a third party who satisfies the court they have a sufficient interest in the outcome (Family Law Act 1986, s.55(3)).
• Jurisdiction: the court can only hear the application if a party is domiciled in England and Wales, or has been habitually resident here for the year ending with the date of the application (or, if deceased, met one of those tests at death) — s.55(2).
• Mandatory notice: a copy of the application and supporting documents must be sent to the Attorney General at least one month before the application is made — Family Procedure Rules 2010, rule 8.21.
• Court fee: listed in HMCTS's family court fees schedule (EX50) as the fee for a declaration as to marital status, civil partnership status, parentage, legitimacy or overseas adoption — check the current figure on GOV.UK before applying.
• Documents required: a certified copy of the marriage or civil partnership certificate, plus a certified copy of any relevant divorce/dissolution/annulment/separation decree, with translations if not in English or Welsh.
• Public policy limit: under section 58, the court must make the declaration if the facts are proved — unless doing so would be manifestly contrary to public policy — and cannot declare a marriage void at its inception.

What Form D70 is for

Form D70 is the court form used to apply for a declaration as to marital or civil partnership status. It is a formal request to the family court to settle a specific legal question about a marriage or civil partnership, rather than a step in ending one.

Under section 55 of the Family Law Act 1986, a person may apply for one or more of the following declarations in relation to a marriage:

• that the marriage was, at its inception, a valid marriage;
• that the marriage subsisted on a date specified in the application;
• that the marriage did not subsist on a date specified in the application;
• that a divorce, annulment or legal separation obtained outside England and Wales is entitled to recognition in England and Wales; or
• that a divorce, annulment or legal separation obtained outside England and Wales is not entitled to recognition in England and Wales.

Section 58 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 provides the equivalent list of declarations for civil partnerships — validity at formation, subsistence or non-subsistence on a given date, and recognition (or non-recognition) of an overseas dissolution, annulment or separation.

These questions come up in practice more often than the form's obscurity suggests: someone needs to prove a marriage was valid to claim a pension or inheritance, a foreign divorce needs to be confirmed as recognised before a second marriage can safely go ahead, or a dispute arises about whether a couple were still married on the date one of them died.

Who can apply, and who is the Respondent

If you are one of the two people in the marriage or civil partnership and you are asking the court to determine your own status, you are the Applicant and the other person is the Respondent. Under rule 8.20 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010, Part 8, Chapter 5, the respondent to an application for a declaration as to marital or civil partnership status is the other party to the marriage or civil partnership — or, where the applicant is a third party, both parties are named as respondents.

A third party can also apply — for example, someone administering an estate who needs certainty about whether the deceased was validly married, or a person whose own legal rights depend on the answer. Section 55(3) of the 1986 Act makes clear the court will refuse to hear a third-party application if it considers the applicant does not have a sufficient interest in the outcome. This is a real filter, not a formality — the application must show, in Part 1 of the form, exactly what that interest is.

Jurisdiction: when the English and Welsh court can hear the case

Because marriages and civil partnerships often have a cross-border element, the court will not simply accept any application. Section 55(2) sets out that the court has jurisdiction if, and only if, either party to the marriage:

• is domiciled in England and Wales on the date of the application; or
• has been habitually resident in England and Wales throughout the one-year period ending with that date; or
• died before that date, having been domiciled in England and Wales at death, or habitually resident here throughout the year ending with the date of death.

Form D70's Part 4 requires you to tick which of these jurisdictional grounds you rely on, and to state where the parties last lived together or currently live. Getting this wrong at the outset is one of the most common reasons an application stalls — if none of the grounds are met, the English and Welsh court simply does not have power to hear the case, whatever the merits.

The mandatory Attorney General notice

This is the step that most distinguishes a declaration application from an ordinary court form, and it is easy to miss if you are used to more familiar family court paperwork.

Section 59 of the Family Law Act 1986 gives the court power, at any stage, to direct that papers be sent to the Attorney General, and separately allows the Attorney General to intervene in the proceedings and argue any question the court considers should be fully tested. Rule 8.21 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 makes this a mandatory step for most declarations covered by this chapter (parentage declarations are the one exception): the applicant must send a copy of the application and all accompanying documents to the Attorney General at least one month before making the application to the court.

Form D70 itself asks you to record the date on which the application and documents were served on the Attorney General (Part 5). Filing the court application before this month has run, or without having served the Attorney General at all, is a straightforward and avoidable procedural error.

Why does this exist? A declaration of marital or civil partnership status is binding — under section 58(2) of the 1986 Act it binds not just the parties but the Crown and all other persons — and can have knock-on effects for tax, inheritance, immigration and the validity of a later marriage. The Attorney General's involvement exists to make sure questions of this public importance are properly tested, not simply agreed between the parties.

What you must attach to the application

Form D70 requires supporting documents, not just the completed form:

• A certified copy of the marriage or civil partnership certificate. If it is not in English (or Welsh, for a matter proceeding in a Welsh court), you must also provide a translation prepared by a person authorised to provide translations.
• A certified copy of the decree or order, if the application concerns a divorce, dissolution, nullity or (judicial) separation obtained anywhere — again with a certified translation if it is not in English or Welsh.
• Details of any other related proceedings (Part 6 of the form) — you must confirm whether there are, or have been, any other proceedings anywhere that relate to or could affect the validity or subsistence of the marriage, civil partnership, divorce, dissolution, nullity or separation, or that concern property between the parties.
• A statement of truth (Part 9) confirming the facts in the application are true, signed by the applicant or their solicitor.

If you do not hold the certificate or decree, the form's own guidance notes point you to the relevant register office (for the area where the marriage or civil partnership took place) or the court/authority that made the decree, to obtain a certified copy before you apply.

The court fee

HM Courts and Tribunals Service publishes the current fee for this type of application in its family court fees schedule, EX50 — listed as the fee for an application for a declaration as to marital status, civil partnership status, parentage, legitimacy or adoptions effected overseas. Because court fees are reviewed periodically, always check the current amount on GOV.UK before you file, rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere. If you are on a low income or receive certain benefits, you may qualify for full or partial fee remission — see GOV.UK's help with court fees guidance for the eligibility criteria and how to apply.

What the court can — and cannot — decide

Section 58 of the Family Law Act 1986 sets the framework for how the court must approach a proven application: if the truth of what is asked to be declared is proved to the court's satisfaction, the court must make the declaration, unless doing so would be manifestly contrary to public policy. Once made, the declaration binds the Crown and all other persons.

There is one specific limit. The court cannot use a declaration under this Part to declare that a marriage was void at its inception. A void marriage is addressed separately, through a nullity of marriage application under different matrimonial legislation — this section does not remove or replace the court's separate nullity powers. If your concern is really about whether a marriage was ever validly formed at all, Form D70 is unlikely to be the right route and this is worth checking carefully before you apply.

Practical steps if you are considering this application

1. Confirm which declaration you actually need. Re-read the list in section 55 (or section 58 of the 2004 Act for a civil partnership) and identify exactly which declaration matches your situation — validity at inception, subsistence on a date, or recognition of a foreign decree. This decides how you complete Parts 2, 3 and 5 of the form.
2. Check jurisdiction first. Confirm at least one of the domicile/habitual-residence grounds in section 55(2) is met before you invest time in the rest of the application.
3. Gather your certified documents. Obtain a certified copy of the marriage or civil partnership certificate and, if relevant, the certified decree or order, arranging authorised translations if either is not in English or Welsh.
4. Serve the Attorney General and wait out the notice period. Send the application and supporting documents at least one month before you intend to file at court, and keep evidence of when this was done — you will need to state the date on the form.
5. Complete Form D70 in full, including Part 6 (other proceedings) and the statement of truth, and pay the current court fee (or apply for fee remission if you are eligible) at the point of issue.
6. Get advice if a foreign decree or third-party interest is involved. Recognition of overseas divorces, dissolutions and annulments, and third-party "sufficient interest" arguments, are the two areas most likely to need a properly reasoned legal argument rather than a straightforward form-filling exercise.

This guide provides general information about applications for a declaration of marital or civil partnership status in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The law described was accurate as at July 2026 and is subject to change — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position, including the current court fee.

Last reviewed: July 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: July 2027 or on legislative change.