Denied consent order

[coolpattern]

Our district judge has twice declined our consent order. It swings heavily in my favour. The letter says we’ll be called for a hearing.

Any advice please? Should we take solicitors/barristers with us?

My ex is probably hiding money and doesn’t want me to claim spousal maintenance hence generous consent order.

I'd see what your solicitor says. Do you have any way of showing that your ex is hiding money?

If the court thinks a consent order is unfair they won't approve it.

It might be worth appointing a forensic accountant but your solicitor will be the person to advise on whether that's appropriate.

I agree that if the order appears unfair to either party it will not be approved. You can just represent yourselves obviously but that depends on many factors. See what your solicitor advises first.
If there is a suspicion of money and/or assets being hidden then you can apply to the Court to force your ex to disclose but obviously he still may conceal them which if proven the Court will take a very dim view of him.

It's almost impossible to prove that someone is hiding assets. I knew my ex was, but couldn't really prove it. He's now bought a huge house since we divorced that he could no way have afforded if what he said in court was true...

In your situation, if you get summoned for a hearing and your ex says he is happy with the financial split he's agreeing then a judge will probably sign it off. They just want to be sure that there is no coercion and that the party that looks like they are coming off badly knows what they are doing.

This worries me.
My ex (we have nisi few years ago, not applied for absolute) has agreed that I get to keep house which I’m struggling to pay mortgage on. He now rents. I am disabled and can’t work so I know that my needs are greater and any split would be heavily weighted in my favour but didn’t know that a court was unlikely to simply ‘rubber stamp’ what we have agreed.
How much difference will me being disabled make?
He has a work pension but neither of us have any savings etc. In fact are both paying off old debts (management plan, some at £1 per month). My money is very tight - had solicitor advice when first split, but currently using Foodbank, no spare cash for any further advice.

Sorry to hijack your post OP - will be following to see what is involved at a hearing

They have to be sure that one party hasn’t been coerced into it, or bullied, or pressured and that ultimately the party seemingly disadvantaged agrees openly and knowingly the implications of such agreement having had that outlined by an impartial legally qualified person

This is absolutely the correct thing to do

Hi all, so sorry, not sure how I can start a new thread and appreciate this is a little old, but today it was confirmed that the judge won't approve our consent order and is listing it to be heard for a 20 minute hearing. To say I'm stressed would be an understatement. I don't feel like I'm getting a great deal but because my pension is so much higher than my ex, the judge doesn't appear to want to sign it off. My ex has submitted a statement and confirmed he's had legal advice, but it seems the court are adamant to make this more difficult. I'm worried that what has started as amicable is going to now be strained. Does anyone have any idea how long it will take to get a court date? My solicitor basically said they had no idea and nothing we can do to chase. I'm so upset, we've both agreed this and want it to go through :-(

I didn’t realise you could go back to court after Consent Order has been stamped

you can't, but the judge won't stamp it

once a consent order is signed neither party has ever been successful in getting it changed at that point - there has been a test case

@Ann83
did you get your court date through? I was wondering how it worked out for you?

@coolpattern - what happened at your hearing? Do you mind updating us? Thanks