Financial Consent Orders
WHAT IS A CONSENT ORDER?
Sometimes referred to as a 'clean break order', a consent order is an agreement between two consenting adults which details how their marital assets will be split and makes that agreement legally binding.
Most divorcing couples think that getting a divorce will automatically deal with the financial settlement at the same time - that is NOT the case.
It goes without saying that the consent order is of course the best route to take. You do not need to instruct solicitors, avoid the need to attend court for any hearings, save thousands in legal costs, but yet come out with the same result - a legally binding court order which severs your financial ties to each other.
A consent order ensures that the division of all marital assets and debts are dealt with and parties cannot return to court to try and change the agreement in the future. The agreed settlement must be fair in the eyes of the law and not just what the parties believe to be fair.
IS A CONSENT ORDER IMPORTANT?
A financial consent order is arguably THE most important part of the divorce processes and it must be drawn up correctly so that it meets all the legal criteria.
If you are selling or transferring property, sharing pensions, transferring other assets or paying maintenance, you need a consent order to make the agreement legally binding. Once the order has been issued, either party can take the other to court if they do not abide by the terms. Even if you do not have much, or anything at all, by way of assets, you need the consent order to protect yourselves in the future.
If you do not obtain the order and either party had a change in circumstances or a windfall e.g. an inheritance or a win on the lottery, your ex-spouse could take a case to court asking for a share in that windfall - and they would be perfectly entitled to do so because a financial order was never obtained. Having a consent order in place ensures that cannot happen.
An order of the court is the ONLY way in which the financial ties that exist between a married (or divorced) couple can be broken.
CAN WE JUST APPLY FOR THE CONSENT ORDER OURSELVES?
The simple answer is no: the less simple answer is, maybe - but not completely.
As stated previously, the consent order is an extremely important process and it must be done correctly.
Often parties will have discussed their financial settlement and may even think they have considered all aspects of it and so do not need any input from a professional. However experience shows that it is highly unlikely that all aspects of the settlement will have been taken into account.
The law relating to financial settlements is incredibly vague and open to a Judge's interpretation. There is no set formula for working out a financial settlement as every situation is different and there are many factors to take into account. Trying to navigate your way around this process is extremely difficult and may well mean that mistakes are made or that an application is returned or refused because it has been submitted incorrectly or is deemed unfair in the eyes of the law. Even if you were able to reach a fully encompassing agreement, you would not be able to draw up the final consent order for the court as that needs to be done by a professional.
Having your consent order drawn up by us as specialists in financial settlements will ensure that you have the best possible chance of your agreement being accepted by the court.
SO THE CONSENT ORDER IS THE LEGALLY BINDING ORDER OF THE COURT WHICH STIPULATES HOW THE MATRIMONIAL ASSETS ARE TO BE DIVIDED BETWEEN THE PARTIES AND ENSURES THAT NO FURTHER CLAIMS CAN BE MADE IN THE FUTURE.
Call us for a free initial consultation and fee quote.