Consent Orders/final financial orders/clean break orders in relation to financial matters arising out of divorce
Many separating couples reach an agreement as to how they are going to separate their finances. They either do this themselves directly, through solicitors, through mediation or even partway through court proceedings.
The only way an agreement can be made finally binding is through an order of the court made at the same time or after decree nisi.
Lawyers at AN Law have over 20 years-experience helping couples make sure that the terms of their written agreement reflect the spirit of the agreement they have reached. You need a lawyer to advise upon potential tax issues, stamp duty issues, bankruptcy issue, timing issues and fall back positions if somebody finds themselves unable or unwilling to comply with the spirit of any agreement reached.
The fee for submitting a consent order to the court is £50. In addition to the consent order the court will require disclosure of both parties’ financial information in form D81 / statement of information for consent order form and sometimes an explanatory letter.
AN Law can help you by:
- Reviewing agreements and give you advice upon unintended consequences or trap
- Providing general view upon fairness of such agreements before you commit to them
- Turning mediated settlements into enforceable consent orders
- Preparing pension sharing orders
- Financial statements (D81 for the court)
We can offer a free 30-minute advice interview.
Our usual charge for preparing a consent order is £600 + VAT Ts & Cs apply. This will cover the costs of the interview and preparing the documents there and then. You will have to bring with you either the mediation outcome letter/document and/or a very good description of the settlement you want to reach and a good overview of you and your partner’s financial position.
Many clients leave with a draft consent order on the day or the very next day or emailed out to you if they are completed online. Whilst we can assist in further negotiations but this will be at extra cost.
Be aware that if one or both of you are unrepresented then the court is very likely to list the matter for a hearing and whilst we can attend on your behalf or arrange to do so in Liverpool, St Helens, Manchester, Chester it is likely that there will be an additional fee of £500 + VAT.
Note: It is not unusual for the court to ask for further financial information or an explanation as to how an agreement has been reached and it is up to the court to decide whether or not to approve the settlement and therefore queries or even the occasional rare rejection of the consent order does not represent a failure on our part.