Family court cases started: divorce, finance and protection, England and Wales
Matrimonial, financial remedy, domestic violence, forced marriage protection, female genital mutilation protection and deprivation of liberty cases started in the family courts of England and Wales each quarter since 2011, from the Ministry of Justice's family court statistics.
Matrimonial matters
26,956
Q2 2026
Verified against source, 4 November 2026, 02:00 UTC- Matrimonial matters
- Financial remedies
- Domestic violence
- Forced marriage protection
- FGM protection
- Deprivation of liberty
Source: Ministry of Justice. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
62 periods, newest first
| Period | Matrimonial matters | Financial remedies | Domestic violence | Forced marriage protection | FGM protection | Deprivation of liberty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | 26,956 | 12,292 | 7,108 | 90 | 20 | 420 |
| Q1 2026 | 29,334 | 12,657 | 7,783 | 120 | 32 | 393 |
| Q4 2025 | 24,761 | 12,076 | 7,452 | 104 | 27 | 381 |
| Q3 2025 | 28,101 | 12,295 | 8,321 | 74 | 38 | 381 |
| Q2 2025 | 27,954 | 11,860 | 7,448 | 74 | 20 | 357 |
| Q1 2025 | 30,462 | 11,293 | 7,456 | 97 | 22 | 321 |
| Q4 2024 | 25,351 | 10,581 | 7,168 | 99 | 12 | 321 |
| Q3 2024 | 28,322 | 11,326 | 7,493 | 61 | 15 | 370 |
| Q2 2024 | 27,712 | 10,809 | 7,436 | 101 | 16 | 299 |
| Q1 2024 | 30,024 | 11,153 | 7,394 | 46 | 17 | 290 |
| Q4 2023 | 24,883 | 10,146 | 7,162 | 69 | 18 | 283 |
| Q3 2023 | 28,998 | 10,647 | 7,734 | 88 | 13 | 368 |
| Q2 2023 | 28,466 | 10,686 | 7,498 | 89 | 10 | – |
| Q1 2023 | 31,651 | 10,906 | 7,959 | 60 | 20 | – |
| Q4 2022 | 25,927 | 9,455 | 7,633 | 74 | 17 | – |
| Q3 2022 | 31,212 | 9,066 | 7,834 | 80 | 25 | – |
| Q2 2022 | 35,576 | 8,875 | 7,562 | 93 | 12 | – |
| Q1 2022 | 30,448 | 10,269 | 8,025 | 68 | 13 | – |
| Q4 2021 | 23,280 | 9,909 | 7,498 | 60 | 10 | – |
| Q3 2021 | 26,989 | 11,217 | 7,716 | 55 | 11 | – |
| Q2 2021 | 27,775 | 12,781 | 7,172 | 61 | 20 | – |
| Q1 2021 | 31,072 | 12,434 | 7,855 | 59 | 10 | – |
| Q4 2020 | 30,644 | 11,113 | 7,905 | 83 | 14 | – |
| Q3 2020 | 29,003 | 10,177 | 8,408 | 71 | 11 | – |
| Q2 2020 | 24,209 | 6,999 | 7,497 | 57 | 15 | – |
| Q1 2020 | 29,867 | 9,465 | 6,837 | 109 | 19 | – |
| Q4 2019 | 27,669 | 10,095 | 6,511 | 95 | 24 | – |
| Q3 2019 | 30,684 | 9,576 | 6,658 | 124 | 46 | – |
| Q2 2019 | 28,481 | 9,743 | 6,058 | 115 | 25 | – |
| Q1 2019 | 30,526 | 9,936 | 6,115 | 92 | 40 | – |
| Q4 2018 | 28,580 | 10,108 | 5,388 | 99 | 35 | – |
| Q3 2018 | 30,539 | 9,554 | 5,424 | 92 | 41 | – |
| Q2 2018 | 32,373 | 10,078 | 5,213 | 79 | 26 | – |
| Q1 2018 | 27,577 | 10,257 | 5,296 | 75 | 15 | – |
| Q4 2017 | 25,936 | 10,183 | 5,125 | – | – | – |
| Q3 2017 | 28,045 | 10,514 | 5,650 | – | – | – |
| Q2 2017 | 27,268 | 10,427 | 5,188 | – | – | – |
| Q1 2017 | 28,682 | 11,027 | 5,180 | – | – | – |
| Q4 2016 | 27,389 | 10,598 | 4,928 | – | – | – |
| Q3 2016 | 27,693 | 10,558 | 5,148 | – | – | – |
| Q2 2016 | 30,471 | 10,442 | 5,135 | – | – | – |
| Q1 2016 | 29,186 | 9,758 | 4,787 | – | – | – |
| Q4 2015 | 29,665 | 9,296 | 4,862 | – | – | – |
| Q3 2015 | 28,495 | 9,576 | 5,027 | – | – | – |
| Q2 2015 | 28,261 | 9,356 | 4,825 | – | – | – |
| Q1 2015 | 28,785 | 9,511 | 4,755 | – | – | – |
| Q4 2014 | 27,466 | 9,280 | 4,845 | – | – | – |
| Q3 2014 | 29,327 | 9,210 | 5,290 | – | – | – |
| Q2 2014 | 27,751 | 8,729 | 5,098 | – | – | – |
| Q1 2014 | 28,737 | 10,203 | 5,023 | – | – | – |
| Q4 2013 | 26,339 | 10,385 | 5,061 | – | – | – |
| Q3 2013 | 28,608 | 10,860 | 5,379 | – | – | – |
| Q2 2013 | 32,221 | 11,214 | 4,707 | – | – | – |
| Q1 2013 | 31,112 | 10,207 | 4,562 | – | – | – |
| Q4 2012 | 29,355 | 10,498 | 4,250 | – | – | – |
| Q3 2012 | 31,210 | 10,543 | 4,467 | – | – | – |
| Q2 2012 | 30,662 | 10,432 | 4,254 | – | – | – |
| Q1 2012 | 33,841 | 11,163 | 4,322 | – | – | – |
| Q4 2011 | 30,757 | 10,517 | 3,951 | – | – | – |
| Q3 2011 | 34,647 | 10,541 | 4,555 | – | – | – |
| Q2 2011 | 29,615 | 8,461 | 4,201 | – | – | – |
| Q1 2011 | 34,813 | 11,826 | 4,329 | – | – | – |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Ministry of Justice
- Check it yourself
- https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 4 November 2026, 01:56 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2026SHA-256 07c0e0ea4bf35172161d6dfd5e42d890ecc1638bdf84ce7fe83e4c1f4c51044e · 22,252 bytes
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ab2954f734e2435f202eea0/Accessible_Family_Court_Tables__Apr-Jun_2026_.odsSHA-256 427bbadb420565983184803c704f4028ff7ec5c269b869046a3060fe6567df20 · 451,395 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 4 November 2026, 02:00 UTC Run at 4 November 2026, 02:00 UTC; 372 of 372 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Ministry of Justice; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-04T01:56:54Z; 2 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 2 of 2 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 372 of 372 figures and the headline reproduced |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 372 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 372 of 372 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches |
| Pass | GOV.UK table is current | latest period 2026-06-30 ended 127 days before retrieval (limit 200), from Family Court Accessible Tables: April to June 2026 |
| Not run | Second official route | no second route is published for these figures apart from the release's record-level CSVs, which the hub would have to add up |
| Pass | The case types add up to all cases | 12 of 12 cases of Table 1's quarters with every type given sum to its total |
| Pass | The quarters add up to each year | 123 of 123 cases of Table 1's years and types with all four quarters given sum to the year's figure |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- Matrimonial cases are divorces, dissolutions of civil partnerships and annulments; financial remedies settle money and property between them. Domestic violence cases seek non-molestation and occupation orders. A blank is a quarter Table 1 gives no figure ('[x]'): it gives forced marriage and female genital mutilation protection cases from January to March 2018 and deprivation of liberty cases from July to September 2023.