ADVICE Financial consent order

[bonusmum21]

Hi all…. asking on behalf of my parents divorcing.
Divorce submitted by us online last week -£593.

When do we start proceedings for consent order - do we need a solicitor for this? Or just pay the £53 court fee. Trying to keep costs to a minimal, all depending on how dad co-operates. House will be sold with a 50/50 share. Same situ with mother paying half the mortgage but staying at mine…. Help!!! Lol any advice would be greatly appreciated :-)

Hello there, for the consent order, to keep costs down, I would draft it yourself. There is lots of information online. I can't recall the name of the form, could be D81. Get your Form Es done. You will need a solicitor on one side or the other to finish the final consent order but if both parties are happy with the agreement, that should keep costs to a minimum. The courts won't accept Consent Orders that haven't been written by a solicitor of one party or the other. I hope this helps.

Also, start as soon as possible. You should have Consent Order inplace before you are able to apply for Decree Absolute

Ok great. Thank you. Divorce was submitted last week so will get onto it asap. Which ones are the E forms?

The form E is literally that. If you Google 'Form E' or find it on the Gov website, you can download/or print it off and fill in. However, there is no requirement for a Form E if there is a mutual agreement in place. All a Form E is, is full financial disclosure. If your parents are happy, they can move straight on to the consent order..which is a D81 form, again, download from the Gov.uk website. This you will need a solicitor to go over once completed and then send into court.

Ok great. Thank you so much

My mums only concern is her pension. Shes adamant my father doesn’t have one as works self employed & hasn’t sorted one previously. Is there a form to fill in to protect that? Or is that included in the d81 form? House sale has been confirmed by both to take 50/50 share.

My solicitors have said don't bother with Form E unless finances are really complicated or you think he's hiding something or that you more than likely think it will go to court

I'm going down the D81 route - fairly amicable with ex husband at the moment - still have to declare finances for each of us etc but as long as we agree to it and sign it the solicitor just has to write the consent order and send it off

With regards to your Mums pension, if your Dad isn't in agreement, this is where you need the Form E. If you're looking at a 50/50 split, chances are the pension will be taken into account as it will be seen as a marital asset. If he's she retains her pension, and they split the house only 50/50 this will be written in the consent order, so that's your pension protection, if you like.

yours mums pension should be considered and split or negotiated as part of the overall share and settlement
It should be declared

Ok thanks all!!

Hello! I'm currently going through a divorce myself and can't really afford to go through the process with a solicitor (I also have no idea what I'm doing). my friend sent me this resource that might help you too - www.iamlip.com/

Hope this can help out anyone else going through the same thing I am xxxxx

You can’t really submit the consent order until you have the conditional order which will take several months. Your dad would be entitled to her pension (likely 50%). A judge will have to sign off the consent order and may have questions about why the split isn’t equal. I think your mum should get solicitors advice and have someone draw up the consent order because apparently the wording needs to be quite specific.

I wanted my STBExH to keep his pension, but my solicitor told me the court were unlikely to accept this arrangement and wanted me to get all pensions valued which will cost a few thousand, which I will have to pay as H doesn't have the cash. I think the feeling is that the court may not accept your mum keeping her pension even if dad agrees so you will need to talk to a solicitor about drafting the consent order and do you need a form E etc.

@HangerLaneGyratorySystem

That's not the advice I've had from my solicitor at all. I have a pension pot much bigger than my ex husbands. My consent order states no pension sharing on the basis of the following

• we have a fair amount of marital debt like loans for childcare, finance agreement for windows etc which I'll be taking on

• I'm having to extend the mortgage until past retirement age to be able to pay him a share of the equity

• reality is it will be me that supports the children as young adults with things like uni etc

Ex husband needs access to cash now not a pension share he can't draw on for another 20 or so years

But every case is different. I suppose I technically could argue a greater share of the house but have gone with nearly 50% offer also on the basis that he isn't sharing my pension

My solicitors has said i shouldn't really need our pensions valuing - ask for a Cash Equivalent Value statement and that's it. You only need a pension specialist if you aren't in agreement or have complicated finances

There’s a difference in knowing the value of pensions, considering the asset but offsetting this with another asset vs trying to to consider it at all

its quite usual for equity and pensions to be traded - eg one party takes more equity but no pension as exsmple

the key thing is knowing it’s existence and value for both parties, and therefore it’s considered when splitting assets to reach reach a fair outcome
not declaring it, or simply excluding it is not acceptable and actually if sizeable could cause problems down the line with a settlement being contested and possibly changed

Thank you @isthistheendtakeabreath - exactly; I need a larger share of equity now to buy a house as our 19 year old is housebound and in return he keeps all his larger pension giving him a reasonable standard of living. I’m really thinking my solicitor isn’t as great as I thought 🤔

Although this might help the OP - my solicitor said if we did a couple of sessions of mediation then the court might accept that STBExH had been given a fair chance to state this case if that makes sense? 🤔

“State HIS case”

Providing a solicitor has drawn up the Consent Order, it's highly unlikely the judge won't sign it off. That only happens in extreme cases where it appears there has been coercion of some description, and it looks grossly unfair. If both parties are happy with an agreement, most judges don't intervene.

OK! Thanks to all… house valuation booked in tomorrow to get the ball going so will try discuss finances with father then. Wish. Me. Luck. X

Good luck, stay strong!