How Long Does a Consent Order Take To Be Approved? UK Timelines Explained For 2026

How long does a financial consent order take to be approved in the UK?

A consent order, once submitted to the court, typically takes between 4 and 8 weeks to be approved by a Judge, assuming the divorce is already underway and the paperwork is completed correctly.

The drafting of the consent order itself takes one to three weeks once instructions and financial information are provided. The court approval stage adds a further four to twelve weeks, depending on the workload of the relevant Financial Remedies Court, and if they have any queries about your order.

The overall timeline is shaped by three stages:

1. Drafting and signing
2. Submission and queue time at the court
3. The period between the conditional order and the final order of divorce

Where the divorce has not yet reached the conditional order stage, the consent order timeline runs in parallel until the divorce reaches that stage.

Summary: Key things to know about consent order approval times in 2026:

• Solicitor drafting of an agreed financial order can take 7-21 working days
• Court approval of a consent order in England and Wales, in our experience, takes 4-8 weeks on average
• The court’s rejection of an order is the main cause of delays in obtaining a consent order

How long does drafting a consent order take?

A drafted consent order is typically ready within seven to fourteen days of instruction. The solicitor drafting your consent order prepares it in accordance with the agreed terms, drafts the Form D81 statement of information, and circulates the documents to both parties for review. Any amendments are usually completed within a few more days.

Pension sharing orders take longer because the pension provider must confirm that the proposed wording is acceptable. A pension provider will normally respond within four to six weeks, although some public sector schemes take longer. Where pensions are not being shared, this delay does not apply.

Using an online consent order is typically much quicker than traditional solicitors, thanks to the technology used and experience dealing with a large volume of clients.

How long does the court take to approve a consent order?

Court approval typically takes between four and twelve weeks from submission. The Financial Remedies Court has been under sustained pressure since the 2022 procedural reforms, and waiting times vary significantly across regional hubs.

The Family Court Statistics Quarterly, published by the Ministry of Justice, tracks current performance.

If the judge raises questions, the timeline lengthens. A request for further information or a provisional refusal can add a further four to eight weeks while the parties respond and the order is resubmitted. Most rejected orders are approved on a second submission once the technical issues are addressed.

How does the divorce timeline interact with the consent order?

The divorce process itself runs to a statutory minimum timeline under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020.

There is a twenty-week reflection period between the divorce application and the conditional order, followed by a further six-week-and-one-day cooling-off period before the final order. The earliest a divorce can be finalised is therefore around 26 weeks, although in practice most take 7 to 9 months.

The consent order can only take effect from the Final Order of divorce. Where the divorce and consent order are progressed in parallel, the sealed consent order will usually be in place by the time the final order is granted.

Couples who delay the consent order until after the final order may find themselves waiting an additional two to three months for the financial settlement to be completed.

Can the consent order process be accelerated?

There is limited scope to accelerate the court approval stage, but the drafting and preparation stages can be made efficient. Providing complete financial information at the outset, signing promptly, and submitting a clean order with a fully completed Form D81 reduces the risk of judicial queries that add weeks to the timeline.

From our experience handling consent orders, the cases that complete fastest are those where both parties cooperate with the drafting, sign without delay, and engage a regulated solicitor to ensure the order is technically correct on first submission.

Self-drafted orders are more frequently rejected, and rejection is the largest single source of avoidable delay.