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Money and property

FP6 form: tell the court how and when you served documents

Form FP6, the certificate of service, records how, when and where court documents were given to another person in a family case. It is filed after service has happened; it does not serve anything itself.

Fill in the FP6 form with Wren

How Wren helps with the FP6

Official forms are written for lawyers. With Wren you do not have to decode this one on your own, and you still follow the court’s procedure.

  1. Plain questions, one at a timeEach part of the FP6 becomes short questions in everyday words. Answer at your own pace and come back to it.
  2. Help beside each questionWhat the question is asking and what the official guidance says about it, in plain English.
  3. The official form, filled inYour answers go into the official FP6. You check it, sign it and send it yourself. Nothing goes to the court for you.
  4. What comes next, kept with your caseWhat usually happens after you send it, with the dates worked out from the published rules.

Time and money

On your own
An hour or two
With Wren
15 to 30 minutes
Solicitor for this form
£250 to £4901 to 2 hours

A solicitor’s time for the FP6 can run to £490. With Wren it is part of £19.99 a month, and it takes 15 to 30 minutes rather than an hour or two.

Times and hours are Wren’s estimates for a typical case, not quotes. Solicitor costs are those hours at £247 an hour, the courts’ guideline rate for a solicitor with over four years’ experience, outside London (GOV.UK, Solicitors' guideline hourly rates (in effect from 1 January 2026)). The guideline runs from £200 to £295 an hour outside London depending on experience, firms set their own rates, and VAT is added on top.

Key facts

Official title
Certificate of service in family cases: Form FP6
Edition
04.26 (5 pages). This edition adds a tick box for email or other electronic means and a box for the details of service.Source: official page (external source, opens in a new tab)
Not for
Cases about a child, which use form C9, or cases about an order to protect you, which use form FL415.Source: official page (external source, opens in a new tab)
What to record
For personal service, the date, time and how the person was identified. For post or DX, the date of posting. For email, the date and time it was sent.Source: rule 6.37(1) (external source, opens in a new tab)
Financial remedy
An applicant who serves the application themselves files a certificate of service at or before the first appointment.Source: r 9.12(2)(c)(ii) (external source, opens in a new tab)
When post counts as served
First class post or DX is treated as served on the second day after posting, if that is a business day, otherwise the next business day.Source: rule 6.34 (external source, opens in a new tab)
Same-day methods
Personal service, delivery to an address and email count as served that day if done on a business day before 4.30pm, otherwise the next business day.Source: official page (external source, opens in a new tab)

Who uses the FP6

Anyone who has served documents in a family case where a rule, practice direction or court order requires a certificate of service. For example, an applicant in financial remedy proceedings who served the application on the other party themselves.

When it is used

After service. An applicant who must file a certificate of service of an application form does so at or before the first directions appointment or hearing, whichever is earlier, unless a rule says otherwise.

Before you start

  • The court name and case number.
  • A copy of the documents that were served, to attach to the certificate.
  • The name of the person served, and their position if they were served at a company.
  • How the documents were served, with the date and time, such as a proof of postage receipt or a copy of the email.
  • The address where the documents were served, including any DX number.

How to fill in the FP6

Open each part for what it asks and how to answer it. In Wren, each part is a few plain questions, and your answers fill in the form.

Page 1: what was served, on whom and how

You give the court, case number, the date of service, the documents served and the person served. You tick how they were served: post, document exchange, delivery to an address, by hand, by email or other electronic means, or another method the court allowed.

Page 2: where

Where it applies, you give the address where service took place, including any DX number. You say whose address it is and what kind, such as a usual residence or place of business.

Page 3: the details and the deemed date

You enter the details the rules require for the method used, such as the date and time of personal service and how the person was identified. You then give the date the documents are deemed served.

Page 4: statement of truth

You sign to confirm the facts are true. False statements can lead to contempt of court proceedings.

Prepare your FP6 with Wren Family

Wren Family turns official forms into short, plain-English questions you can answer at your own pace. You check everything before you send it: nothing goes to the court for you.

Get started

Free for 14 days, no card. Then £19.99 a month, with your money back within 14 days if it’s not right.

What happens after you send it

The certificate is filed with the court, with a copy of the documents served attached. It tells the court that the other person had the documents and when they are treated as having received them, which matters for any time limits that run from service. If service could not be done the usual way, the court can be asked to allow another method or to dispense with service.

Common mistakes

  • Using FP6 in a case about a child, where form C9 is used, or in a protection order case, where form FL415 is used.
  • Giving the date of posting as the date of service: post is treated as served later.
  • Leaving out the time of personal service, or how the person served was identified.
  • Serving by email without the other person having agreed in writing to accept service by email.

Common questions

Does Wren serve the documents for me?

No. Wren helps you fill in the certificate after the documents have been served. Serving them, attaching a copy, signing and filing the form are things you do.

What is the deemed date of service?

The day the rules treat the documents as received. It depends on the method: for first class post it is usually the second business day after posting.

Can I serve documents by email?

Only if the person, or their solicitor, has said in writing that they accept service by email and given the address to use. Practice Direction 6A explains this.

Where these facts come from

These are the official rules and pages this page is based on. They are listed so you can check a detail for yourself; you do not need them to use Wren. They are outside Wren and open in a new tab.

Last checked against its sources on . How we check our pages.

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