Consent order expirience

[markotsg2]

hi all

Just wondering what is the process and expirience once consent order processed and response received?

If we agree on split (and both advised by our solicitors and they agree themselfs) lets say on 70-30 clean break, but judge doesnt approve and adds spouse maint to be payable for example?

If that happens can we not sign the consent order and request new split 50-50 split with spouse maint payable?
when you sent the application for consent order, do you provide examples of the example properties that can be purchased for estimated pot size?

I did consent order last year . Very straightforward. Ours was 50:50 split equity roughly, but we’re both pensioners and we agreed not to do pension sharing so not a equal split.
we wrote the consent order carefully and included a brief explanation of why it was not equal into D81. Just 1 sentence.
BUT we absolutely met the 10 or so criteria the court use to decide if agreement is fair- that comes first before 50:50. So you must look at those and ensure you have met them before you decide your consent agreement. If you do meet these, then a court will not refuse. They may question, so preempt that with a single sentence in D81 or whatever way the solicitor drafting it advises. I could be wrong but I don’t think, if court refuse to seal your consent order, that they can dictate what you do- they can only say they won’t legalise it and why. It would be up to you to sort out. Court will only decide if you ask them to by a financial order not consent order. And you certainly want to avoid that as bills will stack up quickly.
Other thing is to ensure both parties have at least talked briefly to solicitor to ensure they know what they’re signing…in our case my ex just had 45 mins, no detail really just an explanation of what he was signing up to. Then we ensured we put both solicitors names on our consent order so court could see we’d both had legal advice.

just remember the court has a duty of care to ensure those 10 or so criteria are met- if your agreement does, and they can see you’ve had legal advice however brief there’s no reason for them not to seal it. My advice is to read the mediate guides and the ADVICE NOW guides on how to get a financial agreement and to be clear on those criteria and how they’d apply to you- both are extremely good.

mybuying/selling house was waaaaaayyyy more stressful and difficult and time consuming and expensive then the divorce application and consent order. Divorce took 3 months total and cost us £1700 ish in total. ( though of course minimum time has now been increased to 6 months since a few weeks back)

@EmilyBolton What is the 10 criteria the court use to assess fairness? I couldn't find this information online - thanks

I imagine they are referring to Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act which is available on most websites discussing divorce factors

Yes, wobytide is correct- however look at sites like Advice Now as I said , that explain this and what it means in more layman terms….mediate’s site also explains this, and lots of others so don’t know why you couldn’t find it
www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/survival-guide-sorting-out-your-finances-when-you-get-divorced
www.mediateuk.co.uk/the-ultimate-guide-to-financial-settlement-on-divorce/