Divorce documents in Ireland: every form and when you need it

An Irish divorce runs on a small set of documents, each with a form number. Which ones you need depends on whether you apply online or on paper, whether you have a solicitor, whether there are dependent children, and whether a pension is being divided. This guide lists all of them, says what each contains, and explains the two documents people most often ask about: the marriage certificate and the notice to pension trustees.

The documents at a glance

The Courts Service does not charge a fee for filing any of these.

What each document contains

Divorce Civil Bill (Form 2N)

The Civil Bill sets out who you both are, when and where you married, your addresses, when you began living apart, the children of the marriage, and the orders you are asking the court to make. Those orders are the ancillary reliefs: maintenance, orders about the family home, lump sums, pension adjustment and anything else under the 1996 Act. The Civil Bill is the document the court office issues, meaning it stamps it and gives it a record number, and it is the document served on your spouse.

The Civil Bill is where you plead the conditions in section 5 of the Act: two years apart in the previous three, no reasonable prospect of reconciliation, and proper provision. If you are unsure of your dates, How long do you have to be separated before divorce in Ireland? The two-in-three-years rule explains how the court counts them.

Affidavit of Means (Form 37A)

This is a sworn statement of your finances in schedules: assets, income, debts and liabilities, weekly or monthly outgoings, and pension entitlements. Each spouse files one, and each is entitled to see the other's. The judge uses both to decide whether the proposed arrangements amount to proper provision (/guides/proper-provision-divorce-ireland). Leaving something out is not a technicality; the court can reopen matters where a spouse has not made full disclosure.

If you file through the Courts Service portal, you complete a Statement of Truth of Means instead. It asks the same questions but is confirmed online rather than sworn in person.

Affidavit of Welfare (Form 37B)

Where there are dependent children, each spouse files an Affidavit of Welfare. It records each child's name and date of birth, where they live and with whom, school and childcare, health and any special needs, the current access arrangements, and what maintenance is being paid. See Child maintenance calculator in Ireland: what the State tool does and does not do and Guardianship, custody and access in Ireland. The online equivalent is a Statement of Truth of Welfare.

Solicitor's certificate (Form 37D)

Sections 6 and 7 of the 1996 Act require a solicitor acting for either spouse to discuss the possibility of reconciliation, to give the names of people qualified to help with it, to discuss mediation, and to discuss the option of a separation agreement instead of divorce. Form 37D is the solicitor's certificate that this was done. A lay litigant files nothing in its place. The Family Mediation Service itself is described at Mediation for divorce and separation in Ireland: the free Family Mediation Service and what it can settle.

Proof of service (Forms 1B and 1C on paper)

After the respondent has been served with the issued Civil Bill and affidavits, the applicant files proof: an Affidavit of Service or a statutory declaration of service. The case cannot be listed without it.

Appearance (Form 5 or 5B) and Defence (Form 6A)

These belong to the respondent. An Appearance, within 10 days of service, tells the court the respondent has received the papers. A respondent who agrees then writes to say so and files their own means and welfare documents. A respondent who disagrees files a Defence (Form 6A) with those documents, and the case moves to case progression. The steps from there are in How divorce works in Ireland, step by step.

Getting your marriage certificate

The court needs the State certificate of marriage, not the certificate given to you at the ceremony. For marriages registered in Ireland, this is a civil certificate from the General Register Office (GRO). You can order it online through gov.ie, by post, or in person at any civil registration service. The GRO's published fee for a full standard certificate is €20, plus postage for online orders, and it aims to post certificates within 20 working days. You will need the date and place of the marriage and both spouses' names as registered.

If you married outside Ireland, you need the civil certificate from the country where the marriage was registered. If it is not in English or Irish, the court needs a certified translation alongside the original.

The pension notice to trustees

A pension adjustment order under section 17 of the 1996 Act directs the trustees of a pension scheme to pay part of one spouse's retirement or contingent benefit to the other. Because the order binds the scheme, the trustees must be put on notice before it is made. In practice this means serving the trustees with the Civil Bill and giving them the chance to be heard on how the order would affect the scheme. The Courts Service guide is direct: if you are asking the court to decide about a pension, you must also serve a notice on the trustees.

This applies to occupational schemes, PRSAs and personal pensions, and public service pensions. The State pension cannot be adjusted. Defined benefit and public service schemes usually need an actuarial valuation before the court can divide them, which is one of the costs in What a divorce costs in Ireland. The full picture is in Pension adjustment orders in Ireland: how a court splits a pension on separation or divorce.

Documents you may need but which are not court forms

• A separation agreement, if you have one, because the court will want to see what was already agreed (/guides/separation-agreement-ireland).
• A deed of separation or decree of judicial separation, where one exists (/guides/judicial-separation-ireland).
• Valuations of the family home and any other property, and recent mortgage statements (/guides/family-home-divorce-ireland).
• Payslips, P60s or Revenue statements, and recent bank statements, to back up the Affidavit of Means.
• Pension benefit statements for every scheme either spouse belongs to.

Where this leaves you

The documents your case needs follow from four facts: online or paper, solicitor or not, children or not, pension or not. the cost and route planner takes those same facts and shows the likely cost of your route, including valuations and certificates. If you would rather hand the paperwork to someone, the solicitor page explains how to be put in touch with a family law solicitor.