The importance of securing a financial consent order when divorcing

What is a financial consent order?

A financial consent order is a court order that turns a divorcing couple’s financial agreement into a binding, enforceable settlement. The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 gives the court power to redistribute income, capital, property and pensions, and to impose a clean break that ends all future financial claims between the parties.

In the family court, this falls within financial remedy proceedings, once known as ancillary relief, and a district judge approves the order. A consent order is what makes an informal agreement final and binding: the difference between a private understanding that can unravel and a financial settlement that the court can enforce.

What a consent order can include

A consent order can settle all financial ties between a divorcing couple, including capital, property, pensions, maintenance and the clean break itself. Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, it can contain any of the following:

• a lump sum order, requiring one party to pay the other a fixed sum (section 23);
• a property adjustment order, transferring the matrimonial home or another asset from one party to the other, or a Mesher order that postpones the sale (section 24);
• an order for the sale of a property, with the proceeds divided (section 24A);
• spousal maintenance, also called periodical payments, or nominal maintenance kept open as a safeguard (section 23);
• a pension sharing order, splitting a pension through a pension sharing annex, or pension offsetting against other assets (section 24B and the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999);
• a clean break, dismissing all future income, capital and pension claims between the parties (section 25A).

Child maintenance usually falls outside the order and is dealt with by the Child Maintenance Service, though the order can record what has been agreed. A consent order can also carry undertakings and recitals: the promises and background facts the court notes rather than orders itself.

When can you apply for a consent order?

A consent order can be applied for once the court has made the conditional order, previously the decree nisi, and is best lodged before the final order.

Under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, the divorce process runs to a fixed timetable.

There is a mandatory ‘reflection period’ of at least 20 weeks from the application to the conditional order, then a further 6 weeks before the final order, previously the decree absolute. The court cannot seal a financial order until the conditional order is pronounced, and the order takes legal effect only once the final order ends the marriage.

Timing beyond that point carries risk. It is prudent to have the consent order approved before applying for the final order, because taking the final order too early can affect valuable rights, such as a share of a pension or a spouse’s death benefits. Section 28(3) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 imposes a further bar: a party who remarries before making a financial claim loses the right to bring it altogether.

How long does a consent order take?

The court’s approval of a consent order usually takes from a few weeks to around three months, depending on the court’s workload. The application is considered by a district judge on the papers, without a hearing, and will be approved provided the terms appear fair and reasonable.

Judges rarely refuse consent orders outright, but the court may decline to approve, or raise queries before approving, an order it considers unfair, whatever the parties have agreed. Approval turns on the court’s processing time rather than on negotiation, provided the agreement and the accompanying statement of information on Form D81 are complete and consistent.

Incomplete or inconsistent disclosure is the most common cause of delay, as the court will return the order with queries before sealing it. The order becomes binding, and its protection takes effect, only once it has been sealed.

How long does a consent order take to be approved by the courts in 2026?

Why divorce alone does not end the finances

A divorce ends the marriage, not the financial claims between the parties. This is the most important, and most widely misunderstood, aspect of divorce. Once the final order is made the parties are no longer married, yet each remains able to bring a financial claim against the other, with no limitation period.

Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14 illustrates the point.

The Supreme Court permitted a former wife to pursue a financial claim against her former husband more than twenty years after separation, because no order had ever dismissed her claims. Without a consent order, that exposure remains open indefinitely, irrespective of how long ago the divorce was finalised.

What a clean break order protects

A clean break order is the element of a consent order that severs the financial ties permanently. Section 25A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 empowers the court to dismiss all future claims between the parties, so that neither can make a further claim once the order is sealed.

The protection is broader than is commonly appreciated. Once a clean break is sealed, it places the following beyond a former spouse’s reach:

• income earned after the divorce, and the savings built from it;
• a rise in the value of the home, and a business grown afterwards;
• a pension accrued, and an inheritance received;
• even an unexpected windfall.

The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 would otherwise allow a former spouse to claim against the estate on death, and a clean break can dismiss that claim too. A clean break is worth securing even where there are few assets to divide at present, because it also protects future income and assets.

Why an informal agreement is not enough

An agreement reached privately between separating spouses, however sincere, is not legally binding. Couples often settle how their assets are to be divided, and may record and sign that agreement, in the belief that the matter is concluded.

A private agreement does not prevent either party from bringing a financial claim later, and the court is not bound by it. A separation agreement carries evidential weight, but it is not a court order.

Only a consent order, approved and sealed by a district judge, makes a financial agreement enforceable and final. Until an agreement is embodied in a court order, it offers far less protection than it appears to, however clearly it is written or amicably it was reached.

How a consent order is enforced

A sealed consent order can be enforced by the court; an informal agreement cannot. Where one party defaults, by failing to pay a lump sum, transfer a property or maintain periodical payments, the other can apply to the court to enforce the order.

The court’s enforcement powers are substantial: an attachment of earnings against wages, a third party debt order against a bank account, a charging order or order for sale against property, and, as a last resort, committal to prison. Enforcement is seldom necessary; the availability of these powers is generally sufficient to secure compliance.

Can a consent order be changed later?

A consent order is final, but some parts can be varied and, in rare cases, the whole order can be set aside. It has no expiry date, and remains in force until it is varied or discharged.

Spousal maintenance and other periodical payments can be varied, so either party can ask the court to increase, reduce or end them if circumstances change. Capital orders and the clean break are final and cannot normally be reopened, which is precisely their purpose.

A sealed order may be set aside only in narrow circumstances, such as fraud, material non-disclosure, or a Barder event, being an unforeseen change that undermines the basis of the order shortly after it is made. Full and frank disclosure at the drafting stage is therefore essential to the security of the order.

When a consent order is appropriate

A consent order is appropriate where both parties have reached a genuine agreement on the finances and their circumstances are relatively straightforward. It records a settlement; it does not create one. A consent order is not suitable where:

• the parties have not yet reached agreement;
• the finances are complex, contested or involve substantial assets;
• either party may not be giving full and frank financial disclosure;
• one party feels pressured into the agreement.

In those situations, independent legal advice on the substance of the settlement should be taken first. A consent order gives an agreement legal force; it is not a substitute for advice on whether the agreement is fair.

How to obtain a financial consent order

Obtaining a consent order follows a defined sequence:

1. The agreement is confirmed and checked to ensure it can be made into a valid, binding order.
2. A notice of application on Form A and a statement of information on Form D81 are prepared, giving the court the full and frank disclosure it requires.
3. The consent order is drafted, including the clean break, any pension sharing annex and any undertakings, in the precise form the court requires.
4. The signed order is lodged with the court for the district judge’s approval, at the correct point in the divorce timeline.
5. Any query the court raises is addressed, and the sealed order is returned, bringing the financial matters to a close.

The protection exists only once the order is sealed, so a consent order is best prepared and lodged promptly.

Consent Orders Online prepares financial consent orders for couples who have already reached an agreement, whether directly or through mediation, on a fixed fee, with the drafting handled by SRA-regulated solicitors. Fixed-fee pricing starts from £159, and the court fee is £62. Call our consent order solicitors on 01793 939 163 or complete our callback form.

The information found on this page was written and reviewed by the family law solicitors at Consent Orders Online, regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This page is general information about the law of England and Wales, not legal advice on any individual case.