Financial Consent Order - Processing Timelines

[Jellybean999]

Hi all,

I’m trying to get an idea of current waiting times for judges to approve financial consent orders… I would appreciate it if you can share any recent experiences you have with this

my ex and I are on amicable terms, agreed on everything ourselves, had a solicitor draft a straightforward, clean break consent order and submit it to the courts 2 months ago, but we still haven’t heard anything :(

thanks so much for any advice you can offer!

Do you have your decree final (or whatever it’s called now?)

under old law , for mine in June 21, you couldn’t submit the consent order until after decree nisi and then court would seal the consent order as part of the decree final. I applied for decree final as soon as possible and the consent order was sealed at the same time. Got both though around the same time.

That was how it was supposed to work and it did. But you did have to check the box n the divorce potion form to say you wanted the court to make the financial agreement when you first submitted. It wasn’t clearly written imho as it doesn’t spell out you still need to tick this even with a consent order.

Presumably you have your conditional order? A court won’t approve a consent order until you do. A quick google search suggests 6-10 weeks, so you are still within the expected timeframe. Did you pay the court fee by cheque? Looking at whether they have cashed it may give you an indication of whether it has been looked at yet.

I wonder if there may be a backlog as we are now at the point where the initial group of no-fault divorce applications from April-May have reached the conditional order stage, and they may well be all be applying for consent orders at the same time…

Applied via solicitor on 16th Nov got approval today 22 Nov...and was a weekend included ...

Oh wow that’s great, you mean Dec? which court is that out of interest?

Also, thanks all for your responses… yes we got the conditional order mid October (decree nisi) and have been able to apply for the final order (decree absolute) since early December… but solicitor advised us to wait until after we get the consent order rectified by the court… no idea why it’s taking so long :/

Hi there,

I applied for a financial remedy order by consent on 21 November 2022. The application was made online by my solicitor. The order has not been considered by the judge yet - but was sent to them on 23 November 2022.

My understanding is that wait times vary considerably depending on which court and judge deals with the request. My solicitor advised 4 weeks is the quickest she’s seen one turned around recently.

I’m not sure which court the application has been sent to. My Decree Nisi was issued by Bury St Edmonds, despite us living up north.

I wouldn’t be too concerned by your wait - seems fairly standard - especially with the xmas break upon us.

I understand how frustrating the wait is!

Thank you for your response, it’s reassuring hearing from other people who are going through the process at the moment!

I assume the application would go to the same court that issued your decree nisi, but I’m not sure.

We’re still waiting in frustration! Hopefully will hear soon so we can finally put this whole thing behind us and move on with our lives.

Good luck to you too!

Thanks! I will keep you posted when I hear something.

It’s been going on for years for me. First separated in Summer 2019. Agreement on finances reached over 2 years ago - but it took the other side (they are the applicant) 2 years to get the relevant information for the D81 and approve the order…..

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it might be another few months before it’s all over. As long as the court approves the order without any further delays, I will be happy…….!

That process and two sets of child arrangements proceedings in court is more than enough for me…… ! 😔

Update for the OP.

I had confirmation this afternoon from my solicitor that the judge has approved the order!

Thank you for the update - I’m really happy for you! Must be such a relief after two years of madness! Good to start the new year with good news :)

I still haven’t heard anything and starting to really stress out about it… don’t know what’s taking them so long… :/

Thank you! Yes - definitely started the NY off with some good news!

I’m sorry to hear you still haven’t heard anything. I know it’s easier said than done, but, don’t worry! It will be something as straightforward as the judge’s current workload. The timescales people experience seem to be a total lottery depending on where you live and which court deals with your request.

Keep the faith! 😊😊