How do the courts decide what's fair?

[Blablablabladibla]

We haven't done a full financial disclosure but I've seen all his accounts and assets, we did the D81 and have agreed on our finances together.
My solicitor is currently drafting the consent order.

Ive had to fill in a very stern letter from my solicitor to say I accept that they can't advise me on what's fair because we haven't provided a full financial disclosure. But I'm thinking well that's irrelevant because we have agreed on our finances and if it was wildly off then the courts wouldn't approve it.

My question is how does the court decide what's fair if they haven't seen our finances? What do they go off? I guess the D81. So why can't my solicitor advise me based on the d81?

If you’ve agreed between the two of you the court will most likely agree. I hope they would prevent a grossly unfair arrangement like 100/0 but it certainly doesn't have to be close to 50/50. If mutually agreed, I don’t think they really even try to decide if this is a fair division, at most they will look for indications that it’s not been freely agreed.

What do you want from the solicitor?
a) will the court accept this? Most likely yes, since both parties are agreed.
b) is it the best you could get? Most likely no, but there are very good reasons not to squeeze every penny and try to keep it cordial.
c) is it an appropriate / morally good division of assets? That’s not for a solicitor to say and is obviously subjective.

idk why they can’t have a conversation with you about whether this split looks broadly reasonable, but I suspect they’re just covering themselves. They don’t want to say anything that sounds like approving an agreement because you might come back later and say it should have been possible to get more.

Option (a) -- your solicitor doesn't feel that he/she has the most full picture of the finances and therefore cannot be sure their advice is correct. So, much more information is needed.
Option (b) -- your solicitor will make lots more money in fees looking over documents like lots of bank statements and will meddle in your previous agreement involving correspondence with the ex or their solicitors.

Depends what you tend to think about solicitors and the complexity of your finances!