Whist personal circumstances always play a part, the basic order to complete a “no-fault divorce” is:

1. Mediation (if you need it): Starting with mediation sets out the anticipated levels of engagement from each party, allowing you to anticipate whether to make a joint or sole application for divorce. Don’t worry if you have already started the paperwork though, mediation can be started at any stage.
2. File for divorce: Depending on the outcome of mediation (if used) you will make either a joint application (ie together) or a sole one to inform the court of your intention to divorce. (if you applied alone, the other party will have 14 days to acknowledge the action).
3. Reflection Period: This lasts for 20 weeks and is like a cooling off period.  It allows you to agree the financial split, attend mediation (if you have not done so already), finish your financial disclosure and draft your D81 and Consent Order. 
4. Conditional Order: (previously called the Decree Nisi).  After 20 weeks, you can apply for the Conditional Order to get permission from the Judge to Divorce. Once received, you can then submit your D81 Form, Draft Consent Order together with a Form A application.
5. Final Order: (previously called the Decree Absolute). Once your Conditional Order is granted, you must wait for 6 weeks and 1 day before applying for your Final Order. Once granted, you are no longer married. It is therefore vital to only apply for the Final Order once you have a sealed Consent Order.

• A Consent Order is a legally binding court document that formalises the financial agreements reached when separating or divorcing. It forms an essential part of the divorce process and provides certainty about your future.

• If you apply for a divorce without submitting a Consent Order, you may remain financially tied to your ex – sometimes for years. Putting a Consent Order in place protects you both and allows you to move forward with confidence.

• Many separating couples already agree on how to separate their finances, or they reach an agreement either through solicitors or through Mediation.

• However an agreement is reached, it’s important to record those decisions in writing and to make them legally enforceable. 

A D81 form is the summary document that outlines the financial split and tells the Judge what the finances look like before and more importantly, after completing your divorce. In it, you show why the finances are being split as they are.

A Judge will review the D81 to ensure the split is deemed fair legally, and will look into the details of the accompanying Consent Order for the finer details and justification.

If there are any discrepancies or if the Judge is not satisfied with the split they can either reject the form for revision, or order a full hearing.

Hence it is essential to include a Consent Order with your D81 application to provide as much information as possible allowing the Judge to make a swift decision.

A Clean Break Order is a part of your Consent Order that tells the court to legally sever all financial connections you have with each other forever (unless you later remarry your ex!). 

Its used when you either have no assets to split, decide to sell all your joint assets and split the proceeds immediately, meaning you have no future joint assets to share, or when you have made the decision not to have a “claim” on each others future assets, such as pensions or inheritance. 

Asking for a Clean Break Order means that, even if you or your ex receive a future windfall such as a lottery win, you can never have any of that asset.

Asking for a Clean Break Order does not however remove any legal obligation to pay Child Maintenance and the CMS may still become involved if payments are withheld.

Many divorcing couples who have no assets don’t realise that if they do not ask for a Clean Break Order, they risk being financially tied to each other, despite dissolving the marriage.

Unlike the Clean Break Clause, the Mesher Order part of your Consent Order specifically tells the Judge that you are remaining financially tied to each other in some way, despite divorcing. It sets out how either party is delaying realising their portion of an asset – usually the marital home, until a set time. It is used in cases where children need to be housed but one or both parents are unable to buy new homes immediately. 

In instances where selling the family home would leave at least one party at a disadvantage and unable to house their children, you may decide to defer selling for a period of years in the hope that the financial position improves. 

One parent remains in the property and is usually the primary carer for the children. The other parent moves out, but remains on the mortgage and title deeds.

Who moves out and how long the deferred period is can be agreed in mediation. Many parents choose until the youngest child turns 18, or or finishes full time secondary education, or they set a specific date such as 5 years, to allow the residing parent to improve their mortgage acceptability etc.

There is a lot to consider if asking for a Mesher Order and it can affect the non-residing parents options significantly, so it is wise to seek legal advice and  then fully explore this option within mediation prior to making any formal agreements.

Simply speaking, a Form E records all your financial information. It’s a lengthy form (usually around 25–30 pages) that details every aspect of your financial life, including:

• Assets: Houses, bank accounts, investments, and shares.

• Pensions: The “Cash Equivalent Transfer Value” (CETV) of all pension pots.

• Liabilities: Mortgages, credit card debts, personal loans, and overdrafts.

• Income: Salary, bonuses, dividends, or state benefits.

• Future Needs: An estimate of what you will need for future housing and monthly living expenses (often called a “budget” or “schedule of outgoings”).

Not necessarily. You do have a duty to provide full and frank disclosure, but what they looks like can depend on what process you use: 

• If using solicitors, they usually insist on completing a Form E on your behalf before exchanging it together with all your documented evidence with the other party or their solicitor.  
• In mediation, mediators use a simplified version of the Form E which is much shorter, and all parties will collate the information together within the joint meeting sessions. Between you, you decide what documented evidence to exchange (if any) and do this outside of the process, allowing mediation to be swifter and significantly cheaper.
• You can choose to complete you own version of the Form E. This can be especially useful if you have joint bank accounts or no known assets for example. However, if you intentionally hide assets or provide false information, you could face serious legal penalties, and any final settlement could be overturned later. 

Technically as a consent order is a legal document, a mediator should not draft it for you as there needs to be clear separation between impartial discussion and legal representation. 

Our mediators can help you reach decisions and can record these in a document called a Memorandum of Understanding, which is very similar to a Consent Order as it records all the financial decisions. As it is not a legally binding document, we pass it to our Drafting Service to complete the legal process on your behalf.