The consent order process is the most important part of your divorce negotiations. It is essential that you understand how this process fits within the divorce timeline, and why you also need a consent order when you have a financial agreement.
When you marry, financial rights are established in law. These rights will not be dissolved by divorce alone. If you write out your own agreement with your former spouse, sharing the assets between you by agreement, this will not end the claims either.
It is only the Family Court that has the power to end these claims.
If you can come to a financial agreement with your spouse then you can apply for a consent order to end these claims. A order “by consent” means that you have asked the court to approve an order which has been agreed between the parties.
The process to secure an order from the Family Court requires us to upload to the court these three documents
- your conditional order or your final order in your divorce
- a copy of a signed consent order
- a statement of information about finances prepared and signed by both parties.
You therefore need to ask yourself the following questions to work out if you are ready to seek a consent order from the court:
- Has my divorce reached conditional order stage?
You will not be able to submit an agreement to the court unless your divorce has reached conditional order stage.
- Have we prepared and signed a draft consent order?
The words contained in these documents determine whether the financial rights end or not. There is specific wording that must be included to achieve this. If there is one area of your case on which you will seek legal advice, this is it. Once it is approved by the court, you will not be able to change it. Take some legal advice to ensure you know what you are signing and you are not leaving yourself open to an uncertain future.
- Have we informed each other about our finances?
When I receive enquiries about preparing a consent order, I will check whether there has been an exchange of information about finances. This is a key part of the consent order process. The court will not approve an order without a statement of information form, in which both parties include details of assets, liabilities and income. If your spouse is refusing to provide you with financial information voluntarily, then you will not be able to proceed with a consent order process. . If you are unable to reach an agreement then the court will decide which orders should be made in your case, rather than these being “by consent”.
You can read more about whether you need to have a solicitor to draw up your consent order, here.
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