Financial Consent Order sealed in record time

[FarmGirl78]

After a lot of petty swabbling from his ex, my boyfriend's Financial Consent Order has just been sealed by the court.

Signed and sent to Solicitor on Friday 4th. She submitted it onto the online portal on Monday just gone, and got notification it has been approved yesterday. Thats FOUR working days when we were told it could take up to 4 weeks. Another solicitor told us just before Christmas that they were only taking 2-3 weeks so four days is just flippin amazing.

If anyone else is going through this process it's also worth noting that his ex was very misleading with the details she put on the form, and we really thought it wouldn't get approved. We thought likely both of them would be contacted by Judge for a short hearing to explain themselves, but nope, just stamped. Judge either didn't hugely check the figures, or sussed there were holes in her story and decided he wasn't playing along. Either way, it's so good to get it through so very quickly.

wow, thanks for the info, and congratulations getting that far.

I think our Consent Order is being lodged on Monday, fingers crossed it go so quickly for us and we could be divorced in a couple of weeks

I'm assuming as it was done via the Solicitors online portal it went to the Digital Divorce centre rather than the local court that dealt with the other bits of the divorce.

Ours went through very fast last year in June. Submitted by solicitor a few days before decree absolute. But that is always the case for consent order. The main review of the divorce is the decree nisi and you would have put on that you want to include financial agreement. The court doesn’t see any consent order at that stage even if you have it. It only gets added after decree nisi. You can then apply for decree final 41 something days after nisi. So courts always have to work fast to approve consent orders between nisi and absolute. Also the courts are looking to see if you had consent order drawn up by solicitor and that other party also had some time with solicitor. They check about housing, kids and other priorities and if everything meets their criteria that you are both going to be able to support yourselves and kids, that’s about all they are really going to look at.

Decree absolute was issues about 3 months ago. I know that's not usual, but his ex was a nightmare, so it was a matter of doing the steps as soon as each was possible before she threw another spanner in the works. Absolute nightmare.

As it was, she'd been very 'economical with the truth' about her finances and living arrangements on the D81, so it looked very unfavourable to her. We were fully expenting the Judge to request more info or a hearing to discuss it, but it got passed. Its not just the timeframe we were chuffed with, but the fact it was even sealed!

Well my Consent Order was submitted on Monday and was approved yesterday.
Applied for Absolute this morning, lets see how long that takes

Had the Absolute back within 2 hours, happy days

@thelonggame

Had the Absolute back within 2 hours, happy days

Sorry thelonggame I'm new here and keep forgetting to come back to threads and check..... Brilliant news! Best of wishes for you next chapter! Onwards and upwards!! x

Thanks OP and PPs, that’s good to hear. My STBEH and I have agreed on the house being signed over to me and I’m paying him a small amount for a clean break. My solicitor has warned me it might not be approved. The paperwork was sent to my ex to complete on Friday and to sign papers for decree absolute that I have already signed so we shall see. I have had major anxiety about it all and just want it all over and done with now … especially as the whole thing is his doing … discovered he was having an affair and he left me to move in with her.

Shutthefrontdoor are you sure you've got that right? Both parties don't sign for the absolute, only the petitioner. (Or if the petitioner doesn't sign with 3 months of the nisi then the respondent can do, but it's still only one of you who does)

Apologies, a fuller reply now I've woken up a bit more!!

Sorry to hear the circumstances of your divorce. I promise it will get better. Feeling independent and free will come with its wobbles, but will be worth it. xx

Assuming its you divorcing him then after recieving your petition for divorce he would just sign to say he agrees to the divorce going ahead. Once his signed "acknowledgement of service" form has been processed by the courts then you'll get a date for your decree nisi to be 'announced in court' (You don't have to attend court). That date comes, and you'll get notified it's happened, and you now have your decree nisi. 6 weeks and 1 day after that you can apply for your absolute, its literally one tick box and a signature from what I remember. Only you have to sign.

If after another 3 months you've still not signed it, then he can, but has to apply to the court rather than it being automatic at that point.

UNLESS.... Your solicitor has just phrased it badly. If you already have your nisi then in most cases you'd hold off signing for the absolute after the 6 weeks until your consent order is sealed (agreed). This is probably where you're up to. You both need to fill out snd sign the financial declaration forms (D81 or form E) in two places. Firstly to say A. you've told the truth and all your info is honest and then B. you've each seen the others signed half of the form so you're aware of the financal position. You both need to sign the actual consent order/clean break document your solicitor will have written to say its what you agreed. (This a very wordy legal jargony document you don't have a hope in hell of writing yourself so you literally just sign the bottom after being reassured it says what you need!). Perhaps your solicitor means your ex is to sign his bits of these papers as part the whole process of getting you further towards your decree absolute. But they aren't actually him signing for your absolute. I hope this makes sense.

I've done all my boyfriend's paperwork apart from the consent order wording, and I've found it very very stressful, and my anxiety has risen its ugly head after being well controlled (mainly with medication, CBT therapy and masses of Dairy milk) for years. It's a horrible process to go through. I feel very much that I'm being dragged through a mangle and been spat out the other end all chewed up, dishevelled and dazed. And its not even my divorce!! Much love, you'll get there xx