It is important to know that a Consent Order can only be obtained when parties have entered and reached Conditional Order stage within divorce proceedings (Formerly, Decree Nisi stage). Once the parties have obtained the Conditional Order in divorce, they can submit a Financial Consent Order to the Court for approval. The purpose of the Financial Consent Order is to set out terms of agreement reached in respect of the parties’ finances and how they are going to be divided upon divorce. The Consent Order will be sent to the Court along with a Statement of Information (D81), providing the Court with a summary of the parties’ current financial position (before implementation of the terms set out in the order) and future financial position upon the implementation of the terms of the Order.

Parties must appreciate that the Court has no duty to simply grant the proposed terms of the Order and must be satisfied that the terms set out are reasonably fair to both parties.

Often, divorcing couples are unaware of the need to dismiss financial claims to one another. If financial matters are not resolved by way of a legally binding Order, then even when the Final Order (formerly, Decree Absolute) is obtained, the parties still have live financial claims as a result if the marriage. Therefore, it is vital that a Financial Order, dismissing all future claims is reached and granted by the Court.

Ideally a Financial Order should be obtained prior to obtaining the Final Order (formerly, Decree Absolute) within Divorce because if parties fail to obtain a Financial Order first, then it may result in loss of some rights to pension shares, inheritance or occupation of the former matrimonial home.