Scotland Divorce Forms SPA and SPB: Which Form to Use and How to Fill It In

Scotland uses its own divorce forms — completely separate from the English and Welsh system. If you have been searching for a GOV.UK online portal or a "D8" form, those do not apply north of the border. Scottish simplified divorces use physical paper forms issued by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), and they must be printed, completed, signed and sworn before an authorised person, and posted to your local Sheriff Court.

The current simplified divorce forms for the Sheriff Court are Form SPA (one year with consent), Form SPB (two years without consent), and Form SPC (the interim gender recognition certificate ground).

Form SPA: One Year's Separation With Consent

Use this form if you and your spouse have been separated for at least one continuous year and your spouse agrees to the divorce. The defender must complete and sign the consent section of the form — without the signed consent section, the SPA application does not meet its consent requirement.

Eligibility requirements:

• No children of the marriage under 16
• No outstanding financial claims or property disputes
• Neither party has a mental illness, personality disorder, or learning disability impairing capacity to consent
• No other court proceedings affecting the marriage in any jurisdiction

Form SPB: Two Years' Separation Without Consent

Use this form if you have been separated for at least two continuous years and your spouse either refuses to consent or cannot be located. Your spouse does not need to sign anything.

The eligibility requirements are the same as for Form SPA — no children under 16, no unresolved finances, no capacity issues, and no competing court actions. The difference is the separation period (two years instead of one) and the absence of a spouse-consent section.

Form SPC: Interim Gender Recognition Certificate

Use Form SPC for the interim gender recognition certificate ground. It is a Simplified Procedure application, but it is not the one-year or two-year separation form.

Where to Download the Forms

The forms are available free of charge from the SCTS website under the "Simplified/Do It Yourself Procedure" section. You can also request physical copies from the administration office of any Sheriff Court in Scotland. The SCTS provides accompanying guidance booklets for each form, which explain the purpose of each section.

Do not download divorce forms from general UK legal template sites — many of these provide English-law forms that are not valid in Scotland.

How to Complete the Form: Section by Section

Forms SPA and SPB follow the same general structure:

Personal details. Enter your full name, address, date of birth, and occupation. Do the same for your spouse. If you do not know your spouse's current address (SPB, or SPC where applicable), you must attach a separate search statement describing your efforts to locate them.

Marriage details. Enter the date and place of your marriage. You must attach the original Extract Marriage Certificate — a photocopy will not be accepted. If you married abroad, include a certified English translation.

Jurisdiction. Confirm that the court has jurisdiction by ticking the relevant box: either you or your spouse is domiciled in Scotland, or either of you has been habitually resident in Scotland for the past year.

Grounds. State the date of separation. For SPA, this must be at least one year ago. For SPB, at least two years ago. Remember that Scotland allows up to six months of trial reconciliation without resetting the clock, but those days are deducted from the total.

The affidavit section. This is the part that requires swearing before an authorised person. You must sign it in the physical presence of a Justice of the Peace (free — book through your local Sheriff Court) or a Notary Public (solicitors typically charge £20 to £50). Do not sign the affidavit at home and bring it in already signed — the swearing officer must watch you sign.

Consent section (SPA only). The defender completes and signs this section, confirming they consent to the divorce and understand their right to seek legal advice.

What About Ordinary Cause Forms?

If you have children under 16 or unresolved financial matters, the Simplified Procedure is unavailable. You must file under the Ordinary Cause Procedure, which does not use standardised SCTS forms. Instead, you (or your solicitor) draft a legal document called an Initial Writ from scratch. This requires formal legal pleading language and is considerably more complex than filling in an SPA, SPB, or SPC form.

Common Form-Filling Mistakes

Mismatch between separation date and ground. If you claim one year's separation on SPA but your stated separation date is only eleven months ago, the application will not meet the separation-period requirement. Count carefully — and deduct any reconciliation periods.

Missing original marriage certificate. A scan or photocopy will not do. If you have lost your certificate, order a replacement Extract from National Records of Scotland before filing.

Signing the affidavit before attending the swearing officer. The form states clearly that you must sign in the officer's presence. Pre-signed affidavits are invalid.

Sending the form to the wrong court. You must lodge the application at the Sheriff Court district where you or your spouse has lived at the address shown for 40 days immediately before the application is signed. If there is no known Scottish residence, the last-known-address variant can apply where that residence ended no more than 40 days before signing. Check the SCTS "Find a Court" tool to confirm the correct sheriffdom.

The Scotland Divorce Filing Process Guide includes annotated, section-by-section walkthroughs for SPA, SPB, and SPC, with worked examples showing exactly what to write in each field.

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