Any family law solicitors able to answer a divorce question?

[Legalqu]

Just want to know if a divorce is going ahead, is there any way to make a financial agreement that has been made between the 2 parties a legally bound thing instead of waiting for the divorce to finalise and it be part of the financial order? Mainly so one party can’t suddenly start demanding changes to what they have agreed with each other?

You can do a separation agreement but it is not as binding as a court order. You can only submit the consent order to a judge for consideration once you've reached decree nisi or conditional order.
A separation agreement can be disregarded by a court though if for example it was done without disclosure or without legal advice, or was unfair then or now. Or if one party was under duress.
It can and does happen that people try to renege when there is not an order. Rare but happens and at the very least it has huge nuisance value.
The trouble is once someone has what they wanted they might try for more and refuse to cooperate in getting the order or even withdraw consent.
There's a lot of case law on issues such as these and arguments as to what's binding etc but to sleep well at night it's the order you need.

@NoInvitesEver thanks so basically the written agreement made now that will be submitted with the divorce means diddly squat until the divorce is finalised?

Not diddly squat necessary - it might have some weight and factors that would help would be if there was full disclosure on both sides, legal advice for both and it's fair.
It would be a circumstance of the case but not necessarily the overriding one especially if not done properly.

Ok so this isn’t me, it’s my friend. Her and husband have an agreement they have written up (the form that will be submitted with the divorce papers?) they have made agreements…. But there is concern that the ex will now try to change that agreement (due to big issues between them and being spiteful!) and then once it is sent off try to change it? They aren’t using solicitors, have done it all themselves?

I don't know what form you mean. If it's a consent order it's binding once approved but that can't happen until nisi or conditional order. No other financial agreement would be sent to court.
Otherwise it's a risk. I wouldn't take that risk but many people do.

@NoInvitesEver sorry I’m not sure, I don’t have much knowledge at all on this and I’ll have to ask what form they mean, just said the form that goes off with the divorce. They will need a financial order though won’t they, as they are wanting a clean break (after specifying what money is going where to who)

Yes they need an order. Anything less has some degree of risk.

@NoInvitesEver so they can only have a financial order when the divorce completes/goes to court, there’s no way to process that separately now?

Yes that's right. A judge cannot consider/approve a financial order until decree nisi (pre-April divorce proceedings) or conditional order (post-April proceedings).

I have experienced this and lost a lot of money as my ex changed his mind. I can confirm that any financial agreement without full disclosure can be overridden by either party. sorry!

… and an agreement can be set aside if there is a material change between the paperwork being filed and the judge approving it ..

such as a lottery win