We use some essential cookies to make this website work.
We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.
We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.
You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.
You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.
Departments, agencies and public bodies
News stories, speeches, letters and notices
Detailed guidance, regulations and rules
Reports, analysis and official statistics
Consultations and strategy
Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports
Register to vote Register by 18 June to vote in the General Election on 4 July.
How to get a legal or judicial separation if you want to separate from your partner without divorcing them.
Apply for help with the cost of prison visits, including travel to the prison, accommodation, meals.
When your husband or wife applies for divorce: how to respond, agree or disagree, start your own proceedings, court hearing, apply for a decree absolute.
How you can have a marriage annulled, the reasons you can give for annulling a marriage and the forms you will need to apply for an annulment. This includes information from the withdrawn D191 guide.
The laws on selling, buying and carrying a knife or weapon depend on the type of knife or weapon, your age and your circumstances.
Ending a relationship and agreeing on money and property, child arrangements (sometimes known as 'custody', 'residence' or 'contact') and child maintenance
Re-register your child’s birth to add the father's name to the birth record or certificate at the register office
DNA testing can be used in child maintenance or inheritance disputes, or applications for contact with a child or for a child to settle in the UK
How to contact the Court Funds Office - email, phone, address, complaints
What to do if you have an electronic tag (including curfew tags, location tags and alcohol tags) and how to contact the Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS).
The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 years old. Children are treated differently from adults, are dealt with by youth courts and sent to special secure centres for young people.
If you've been the victim of a crime, you have the right to privacy, to make a personal statement and to contact the police and be kept informed about the investigation.
The steps you can take to tackle an intruder or burglar in your own home - and what force you can use to defend yourself
How to volunteer as a magistrate, who can and cannot apply, the application form, and what magistrates do in court.
If you’re being stalked, contact the police or get advice from organisations including the National Stalking helpline.
When to tell a potential employer, university, college or insurance company about a criminal record, when it becomes 'spent' and what shows up on a DBS check.
The range of prison sentences a court can give - including suspended, fixed-term, indeterminate and life sentences.
How to challenge a decision by a magistrates' court. Including how to get a fine reviewed, if you did not know about your case, how to appeal to the Crown Court.
You can ask the police to check if someone that has contact with a child has a record of sexual offences.
You have the right to speak for yourself in court without a solicitor or legal professional - where to get help with papers and procedures
Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.
To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab).