“My ex and I have separated and are ready to apply for a divorce. We have been married for 11 years but unfortunately things have come to an end. Thankfully, we have no children, although I always wanted them. We are fairly amicable and I’m hoping to be able to work things out between us. However, the process is really daunting. There is a lot of admin to do and I’m quite overwhelmed by all the forms and orders.”
Family lawyer Courtney Rooney answers your questions about what you need to know about the divorce process, particularly the financial aspects.
Q: What is the divorce application process and is there anything I need to watch out for?
A: Most people now apply for divorce online themselves. This is by far the easiest way of doing it and means that everything can be kept in a nice, easy trail for you. You now have to apply for divorce under ‘no fault divorce’ which was implemented in April 2022. This new system essentially means that there’s no blame game in divorce, and all divorces are legally due to irretrievable breakdown.
You can find the application on the government website; it’s called a Form D8 Application for divorce or dissolution. Dissolution applies to those in a civil partnership.
You will need to apply either as joint applicants (i.e. you complete the form together) or as a sole applicant. If you are doing a joint application, you’ll need to have an Applicant 1 and an Applicant 2. If you’re applying on your own, you will be the Applicant, and your ex is the Respondent.
If you chose to apply on your own, the court would send a notice of the application to your ex and ask them to acknowledge receipt of this. If your ex does not acknowledge receipt, for whatever reason, you may then need to employ someone to personally serve (hand) that document to your ex. These are called ‘process servers’ and can be easily found online. They will provide you with proof that the document was handed to your ex and you can then send this to the court for them to process your application.
Q: What are all the orders in the divorce process?
A: There are two specific orders that will be granted by the family court. After you have submitted your divorce application, and it has either been acknowledged by your ex or you have sent proof of service (as above) to the court, you enter the 20-week cooling off period. You can then apply for the conditional order once the cooling off period has ended. When the court grants this, they have essentially said that you are allowed to divorce. This order does not legally dissolve your marriage.
The final order can be applied for 6 weeks and 1 day after you’ve received your conditional order. The final order officially ends your marriage.
It is very common for there to be a delay between applying for the above orders and receiving them from the court.
Before you apply for your final order, it’s really important that you have a financial settlement in place with your ex, and that it’s made legally binding with a financial consent order. This is an incredibly important part of divorce, but it is a separate process to ending your marriage. It severs your financial ties and means that there cannot be any claims by either of you on money or assets in the future.
Q: What’s involved in financial negotiations?
A: This really depends on you and your ex. It sounds like you can communicate between yourselves, and this is really useful when it comes to talking about your finances. It might be that you need to go to mediation, or another form of non-court dispute resolution (NCDR), if there’s something you can’t agree on or if you are unable to communicate amicably without a third party present. However, you should both each get expert legal advice, and potentially financial advice depending on your assets, and make sure you do financial disclosure through the Form E
The Form E is a long, and somewhat daunting document, asking for a detailed breakdown of all your sole and joint assets. You each need to complete the document fully, and provide supporting evidence (bank statement etc.), to ensure you are fully aware of your and your ex’s financial picture before you start to negotiate to reach a fair agreement.
Q: When is it best to decide on the financial arrangements?
A: Ideally, you would use the 20-week cooling off period to negotiate your finances before you get your conditional order. Some people can reach an agreement in this time, for others it can take longer. It’s best to get started as soon as you feel able to and you have a clear mind. Remember, the process can be overwhelming and is emotionally as well as practically challenging, so take your time.
Once an agreement has been reached, this will need to be drafted into a financial consent order and sent to the court for approval. The court have the overriding ability not to approve an agreement if it is vastly unfair to one of you. Again, it is extremely important to seek expert legal advice to consider if there is a risk the court may not approve the agreement.
Make sure you don’t apply for your financial consent order until you have been granted your conditional order because the court needs to know that you are eligible to get divorced before you can conclude financial matters.
Q: Do I need a financial consent order?
A: This is a question we get asked all the time. Legally, you do not have to reach a financial settlement or have a financial consent order approved by the court. However, the importance of getting one cannot be understated even if you don’t have much in the way of assets at the time of your separation.
A financial consent order, if approved by the court, will officially end all the financial ties you have together which were brought about by your marriage. Ending your marriage alone doesn’t do this. If you don’t get a financial consent order, your ex can bring a financial claim against you at any point, and vice versa, as there is no time limit. For example, if you receive inheritance or win the lottery, your ex may have a legitimate claim on a portion of that.
Summary of recommendations
- Legally dissolving your marriage does not end your financial ties to each other – these are two separate processes
- Full and frank financial disclosure is necessary to ensure a fair settlement
- If an agreement is reached, ensure you get a financial consent order approved by the court
Financial arrangement FAQs
- What is financial disclosure?
Financial disclosure is the process of providing information about all your finances and assets – so this could be money, property, belongings, shares, investments, liabilities, business interests, pension portfolios etc. It’s an important process to understand exactly what there is to divide between you.
- Do I need a solicitor to do my financial settlement?
You don’t necessarily need a solicitor to negotiate, but expert legal advice is recommended for the financial disclosure process. Family lawyers are trained to spot errors and anything suspicious on disclosure documents. You’ll also need a solicitor to draft your agreement into a consent order before it’s submitted to the court for approval. They can then also advise you if there is a risk that the court may not approve it.
- Do I need to go to court to arrange my finances?
No. If you can reach an agreement between yourselves, or through NCDR/solicitors, then there is no need to issue any court application to deal with the finances. In this instance the only court involvement will be approval of the consent order. The only reason you would need to go to court to get a financial settlement is if you and your ex cannot reach an agreement. The court will then need to make a decision for you.
- What if we can’t agree?
There are numerous options to help you through the process. Exploring mediation, arbitration or collaborative divorce are your first ports of call, together with seeking expert legal advice from a solicitor. Court is a last resort if you really cannot agree.
Useful Links
How to future-proof for an amicable divorce
