Consent Order Divorce England: How to Protect Your Financial Settlement
The Final Order Doesn't End Financial Claims
This is the single most dangerous gap in most people's understanding of divorce in England: the Final Order dissolves your marriage, but it does not extinguish financial claims. Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, either ex-spouse retains the legal right to bring claims against the other's property, savings, income, inheritance, and pensions — potentially years or even decades after the divorce is finalised.
Without a court-approved financial order, your ex-spouse could come back and claim a share of assets you've built up long after you thought the divorce was done. A Consent Order is the mechanism that shuts this door.
What a Consent Order Actually Does
A Consent Order is a legal document, agreed by both parties and approved by a Family Court judge, that sets out exactly how your finances, property, and pensions will be divided. Once the court approves it, the terms become legally binding and enforceable.
Critically, a Consent Order can include a clean break clause — a provision that permanently dismisses all future financial claims by either party against the other. With a clean break, neither spouse can come back for more money regardless of changes in circumstances.
Without the clean break clause, the Consent Order divides the current assets but may leave the door open for variation applications (changing the terms later) in certain circumstances.
Consent Order vs Financial Remedy Order
If you and your ex-spouse agree on how to divide finances, you submit a Consent Order. If you can't agree, either party can apply for a contested Financial Remedy Order — where a judge decides the division after hearing both sides.
| Consent Order | Financial Remedy Order | |
|---|---|---|
| How it starts | Joint agreement between the parties | One party applies using Form A |
| Court fee | £62 | £321 |
| Court involvement | Judge reviews papers and approves on paper (no hearing in most cases) | Full court hearing with evidence and argument |
| Timeline | Typically 4–8 weeks from submission to approval | 6–12 months or longer |
| Cost | £300–£800 (solicitor drafting + court fee) | £5,000–£30,000+ (solicitor representation throughout) |
| Flexibility | You choose the terms | The judge decides based on Section 25 factors |
The vast majority of divorces use a Consent Order. Contested proceedings are expensive, stressful, and slow.
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What Goes Into a Consent Order
A comprehensive Consent Order typically addresses:
- The family home — who keeps it, whether it's sold, transfer of equity terms
- Other property — second homes, investment property, land
- Pensions — pension sharing order percentages, offsetting arrangements, Form P1 (Pension Sharing Annex) attached
- Savings and investments — division of bank accounts, ISAs, shares, cryptocurrency
- Debts — who takes responsibility for the mortgage, loans, overdrafts, credit cards
- Maintenance — whether one party pays spousal maintenance, the amount, and duration
- Child maintenance — often recorded in the order, though the CMS can override it after 12 months
- Clean break clause — dismissing all future financial claims
Form D81: The Financial Disclosure That Accompanies the Order
You can't submit a Consent Order in isolation. It must be accompanied by Form D81 (Statement of Information for a Consent Order), which summarises both parties' financial positions — income, assets, debts, housing needs, and what each party's financial situation will look like after the proposed settlement.
The judge reviews Form D81 to satisfy themselves that the proposed settlement is fair to both parties. If it looks one-sided or if key financial information appears to be missing, the judge can refuse to approve the order and ask for more information.
Both parties must complete their sections honestly. Form D81 isn't as detailed as the full Form E financial disclosure used in contested proceedings, but it still requires transparent disclosure.
Timing: When Can You Submit a Consent Order?
The Consent Order can only be submitted to the court after the Conditional Order (formerly Decree Nisi) has been pronounced. It cannot be filed at the start of divorce proceedings.
However, the negotiation and drafting of the Consent Order can and should start much earlier. Many solicitors begin drafting the financial settlement as soon as divorce proceedings are initiated, so it's ready to submit the moment the Conditional Order comes through.
The Consent Order itself doesn't take effect until the Final Order is granted — so there's a window where the order is approved by the court but not yet enforceable.
How to Protect Assets After Divorce
If you already have a Consent Order with a clean break clause, your future assets are protected. No further claims can be made.
If you divorced without a Consent Order — which happens more often than it should, particularly in amicable or informal separations — you're exposed. Your ex-spouse can apply for a financial order at any time. The only way to close this risk is to apply for a Consent Order now, even years after the divorce. There's no time limit for financial claims under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
For those going through divorce now, getting the Consent Order right is the single most important financial step. The England After-Divorce Checklist covers the Consent Order process alongside every other post-divorce administrative step — from property transfers and pension sharing through to identity updates and estate restructuring.
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