Is it acceptable to use AI when working out figures for Form E?

Using software to total your statements is no different in principle from using a spreadsheet. What matters is that every figure you put on the form is honest, your own, and something you can explain. You are the one who signs the statement of truth, so treat the output as a first draft to test, never as evidence in itself.

Which AI tool should I use?

Any reputable AI tool that accepts a file upload will do the job, because the method matters far more than the brand. Before you upload, read that provider's privacy settings and switch off anything that allows your conversations or files to be used for training, where that option exists.

I only have a few months of statements. Is that enough?

It is a starting point, not a full picture. Tell the AI tool how many months it is looking at so it averages over the right period, then add the annual costs you know about by hand: insurance, car costs, birthdays, holidays, school uniforms. Where you have to estimate, state that you have estimated, and say what you based it on. Bear in mind that full disclosure on Form E requires twelve months of statements, so a few months will only take you so far. Use them to get a working draft in place now, then add the rest of the year as it arrives, or obtain the missing statements from your bank, and re-run the figures before you sign. If anything is still missing when you file, explain what and why rather than presenting a thin picture as complete.

Can I do the same with my ex-partner's spending?

Only with information you properly hold or are entitled to see. You cannot upload statements that belong to someone else, and in financial proceedings there are rules about how documents obtained during the case may be used. If you are unsure what you are allowed to use, ask before you do it.

Will a court accept an AI-generated budget?

The court is interested in your income needs, supported by the documents you have, not in the tool you used to reach them. Keep the spreadsheet, keep the AI tool's breakdown, and keep the version you checked. If a figure is challenged, that trail is what lets you answer the question.

Does this work out what I am entitled to?

No. It works out what you spend. How assets and income are shared is a separate legal question, decided by applying the law to the whole picture, and a spending total on its own will not answer it.

Which part of Form E asks for my budget?

Section 3.1, headed Income needs, inside section 3 of the form (Financial requirements). You complete one box headed Income needs of yourself and the form asks for the weekly, monthly or annual cost of each item. It covers how your household stands now and what you expect once you live separately.

What is the difference between income needs and capital needs on Form E?

Section 3.1 (income needs) is the recurring monthly cost of running your household and caring for the children. Section 3.2 (capital needs) is the one off sums: 3.2.1 for yourself, usually rehousing and a car, and 3.2.2 for the children's needs that differ from your household's. A spreadsheet of transactions can help you with 3.1 and cannot help you with 3.2.

What does Form E section 2.3 ask for, and how long does it take?

It asks you to list every bank, building society and National Savings account you hold, or have held at any time in the last twelve months, in credit or overdrawn, with your interest in any joint account. For each account listed you must attach statements covering the last twelve months. Requesting a year of statements from two or three banks is the longest wait in preparing Form E, so start that before you start the budget.

Can I use one spreadsheet for Section 2.3 and Section 3.1?

They are different jobs. Section 2.3 needs the statements as the bank issued them, unedited, because they are the evidence. Section 3.1 needs your own analysis of what those statements show. Keep the original downloads for 2.3, and work from a stripped copy, holding only date, description and amount, for the budget that goes into 3.1.

How much detail does Form E section 3.1 want?

Enough that someone reading it can see where the money goes: separate lines for housing, council tax, utilities, insurance, food, transport, children's costs and debt repayments, rather than one line marked living expenses. A reader should not have to ask what a line covers. If you run out of room, continue on a numbered sheet and say so in the box.

Form E 3.1, 3.2 and 2.3

Form E Income Needs, Worked Out Month by Month

Three plain steps from a year of bank statements to monthly income needs you can put on section 3.1 and stand behind.

The short version

Three things Form E wants from you

3.1
Income needs: the budget
Each item costed weekly, monthly or annually, for you and for the children.
2.3
Statements: the evidence
Twelve months for every account you hold or held, exactly as the bank issued them.
3.2
Capital needs: the big sums
Rehousing, a car, the one off costs. Judgement, so no tool can answer it for you.

This page helps with 3.1, which is the only one of the three that a budget answers.

On the form

Where Form E asks for income needs and capital needs

Section 3 of Form E is headed Financial requirements. Three references do the work, and each one is answered in a different way.

2.3

Section 2.3: the statements

Every account you hold or held in the last year, with twelve months of statements to match. Evidence, not a budget.

3.1

Section 3.1: income needs

The budget itself: each item costed weekly, monthly or annually, for you and for the children.

3.2

Sections 3.2.1 and 3.2.2: capital needs

The one off sums, usually rehousing and a car. A judgement about the future, not a total from a spreadsheet.

Only section 3.1 uses the figures this page helps you build. The statements at 2.3 have to come from your bank as they are, and capital needs at 3.2 are a judgement about the future, so nothing here should be pasted into either.

Four steps

From statements to a figure you can defend

Download a CSV from the account that pays the household bills, and from every other account you hold.
A full year picks up the annual costs a short sample misses: insurance renewals, car servicing, school expenses.
Never upload the statements themselves. Every page repeats your name, address and account number, and an upload cannot be clawed back.

The finished shape

A year of transactions, reduced to a page you can check

This is the shape of the output, not a prediction of your figures. Rows go in, headings come out with a present and a future figure for each, and every heading keeps its own list of transactions underneath.

Before

412 rows of transactions

my-statements.csv412 rows

07 MarTESCO STORES 342164.20
07 MarSAINSBURY'S LOCAL12.85
09 MarOCTOPUS ENERGY DD168.00
11 MarSHELL FILLING STATION52.40
… 408 more rows

This is a CSV export from your own online banking, not a PDF statement. Twelve months of these, from every account, is what the AI tool reads.

No namesNo account numbersDates, descriptions, amounts

After

Ten headings, two figures each

Adults

Children

Same household throughout: two adults and two children now, one adult and the same two children afterwards. Click any heading to see why the two figures differ.

HeadingPresentFutureChange

Two incomes cover this now. Afterwards the same house, and the same children's bedrooms, are carried by one income, and a smaller home costs more in rent than half a mortgage did.

Monthly total£2,830£3,249+£419

The year£33,960£38,988+£5,028

Present is what you spend now. Future is what you expect to need, and the gap between the two is where your reasons go. Some headings fall after separation and some climb sharply, so the total is never simply one figure halved. Ask for the transactions behind each heading as well: that list lets you check the total, and it is what a judge or an opponent may ask to see.

Made up figures, real shape. Your headings and totals will follow your own household.

The caveat that matters most

Needing more does not mean getting more

A budget, however carefully worked out, shows what it costs to run your household. It does not create an entitlement to that sum, and it does not decide the outcome. Under section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 the court weighs your needs, now and in the foreseeable future, against the income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources of both of you, together with the standard of living during the marriage, your ages, the length of the marriage, contributions made and any disability. Where the money available cannot meet both households' needs, the court divides what exists rather than ordering a figure the assets cannot support. That may also mean adjusting your own expectations: a smaller home, a longer wait, or a different share of the pension, because a need is weighed against what is actually there rather than met in full. An agreement or a budget inflated to look like a target invites closer scrutiny of every line, so put down what you genuinely need, keep the evidence behind it, and plan on the basis that the figures may have to move.

Read section 25 on legislation.gov.uk

Income needs

Income needs on Form E, heading by heading

Section 3.1 wants the cost of each item, not one grand total. These are working headings rather than an official list: leave out what you do not pay, and add anything missing.

The household

Mortgage or rent, and any service charge
Council tax
Gas, electricity and water
Buildings and contents insurance
Repairs, maintenance and boiler cover
Food and household shopping
Clothing, shoes and personal care
Broadband, home phone and mobile

Getting about and staying connected

Fuel, insurance, road tax and servicing
Parking, MOT and repairs
Public transport and taxis
Pension and life insurance contributions
Loan, credit card and finance payments borrowed jointly or for the family
Medical, dental, optical and prescriptions
Subscriptions and leisure
Holidays, gifts and celebrations

The children

Childcare, nursery, after school and holiday clubs
School meals, uniform and trips
Clubs, lessons and activities
Children's clothing and footwear
Travel to see the children or for contact
Anything a child needs because of a health condition or additional need

The form lets you give each figure weekly, monthly or annually, provided you are consistent, so choose monthly and convert the annual costs by dividing by twelve. Do that with insurance renewals, car servicing, school uniforms and holidays rather than leaving them out, because an annual cost quietly missing from a monthly total is the figure most often corrected later.

Section 3.1 asks about the household you live in now and the one you expect after separation. The budget you build from statements answers the first part honestly and gives you a starting point for the second, but the second part is your judgement, not a total.

An estimate is not a figure you can file

Form E carries a statement of truth. A total that is wrong because a transfer was read as a bill is your error, not the software's. Check every total against your statements before it reaches the form, and keep the working.

What to hand over, and what to keep

Think of the AI tool as a fast, tireless junior who has never met your family and cannot be asked to sign anything.

Good at this

Turning a year of messy transaction descriptions into tidy monthly totals
Spotting a cost you had forgotten, such as an annual renewal paid by card
Keeping the arithmetic consistent across ten categories
Producing a working paper you can hand to a solicitor or a judge

Needs you

Deciding whether a payment was really a household cost or something personal
Separating a one-off repair from a regular bill
Explaining cash withdrawals, where the description tells you nothing
Confirming the figures, since the form is signed by you and nobody else

Before you upload

Your statements are nobody else's business

Strip your name, address and account number before any file leaves your computer, and work only from the stripped copy.
Turn off any setting that lets the tool train on your chats. If you would rather nothing left your machine, a spreadsheet and a pivot table do the same job.
Never upload documents that belong to the other side, or anything the court has restricted.

Where these figures go next

The Financial Remedy Handbook walks through the whole financial application, from Form A to the final order.
ES1, issues in the case explains what happens when the court lists the questions that need deciding.
The settlement checklist is a free step by step list if you are working through this on your own.
Form E, disclosure and help with fees are explained in plain English in the glossary.

Common Questions

Bridge the Gap — Further Reading

You might also find helpful

Your Journey

Interactive map of the family court process, stage by stage

Resources

Free family court forms, guides, and templates

Want Your Figures Checked Before You File?

Send through your budget and I will tell you where it looks thin, what a judge is likely to ask about, and what supporting documents to keep with it.

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