Consent orders

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Practice notes

Sequestration (confiscation of assets) within contempt proceedings

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Produced in partnership with David Salter, deputy High Court judge and Recorder 12th Jan

Practice notes

Application to vary, extend or discharge a non-molestation or occupation order

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Practice notes

Grounds for judicial separation

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Practice notes

Drafting the terms of a financial consent order

This Practice Note sets out the basic principles to be applied when drafting a financial consent order including the preparation and structure of the...

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Practice notes

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Emergency prohibited steps and child arrangements orders

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The grounds on which a marriage is void

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Practice notes

Undefended divorce proceedings

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Practice notes

Void and voidable marriages

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Practice notes

Working with counsel

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Produced in partnership with Ursula Rice of Family First Solicitors Ltd 12th Jan

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Practice notes

Statements of truth in family proceedings

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General principles—lump sum orders

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Declarations of parentage—procedure

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Most recent Consent orders content

Q&As

Where a financial order contains provision for the parties to have joint conduct of the sale of a property, does the conveyancer need permission from both parties to distribute the proceeds of sale, where there is provision in the order for the proceeds to be distributed?

It is a common feature of financial remedy orders that a property (often the matrimonial home) will be sold, whether immediately or on the happening...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Is it acceptable for a draft order in family proceedings, that is to be made by consent, to be electronically signed by the parties?

The Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955 do not address the issue of electronic signatures directly, although CPR are clear on the...

Produced in partnership with Richard Colbey of Lamb Chambers 8th Jan

Q&As

Where the payer of maintenance resides in the UK, and the payee intends to move to the US in due course, is there any advantage for the payer if the maintenance payments are index-linked to the UK consumer price index rather than the US equivalent?

If the child maintenance service (CMS) has jurisdiction in respect of child maintenance then it will calculate maintenance in accordance with the...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Where an order includes provision for a lump sum to be paid by the applicant to the respondent within 21 days of the date of the order, should provision be included for the applicant to give an undertaking to pay the lump sum? If so, what is the authority for this?

The power to order payment of a lump sum from one spouse to the other is contained in section 23(1)(c) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973)....

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Where a final order has been made in financial remedy proceedings some time ago, and it subsequently transpires that the children of the family may not be the husband's biological children, would this amount to a Barder event?

Applications to set aside a final order made within financial remedy proceedings should be made in accordance with the Family Procedure Rules (FPR...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Where a Form A has been issued, Forms E filed and heads of agreement reached at a financial dispute resolution appointment (FDR), is it necessary to file a statement of information when the draft consent order is lodged with the court? Does it matter if the draft consent order differs slightly from the heads of agreement reached at the FDR (eg where finer details have been worked out between the parties in negotiation since the FDR and both parties have had independent legal advice)?

The rules for proceeding by means of a consent order in financial remedies proceedings are contained within Family Procedure Rules 2010 index (rule...

Produced in partnership with Christi Scarborough of 42 Bedford Row 8th Jan

Q&As

What steps can a party to financial proceedings take when they have signed a consent order (which has not yet been approved by the court), and it then transpires that they cannot comply with part of the order such as the payment of a lump sum?

In Sharland v Sharland at para [29], the Supreme Court noted that ‘The court cannot make a consent order without the valid consent of the parties’.A...

Produced in partnership with Nicholas Starks of St Ives Chambers 8th Jan

Q&As

When drafting an order for a lump sum by instalments/a sum paid by a number of individual payments, to avoid it being variable how should that be expressed? What aspects of a lump sum paid by instalments are variable? Can a lump sum paid by instalments be varied as to timing and the manner by which it is paid but not as to quantum?

Section 23(1)(c) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) gives the court the ability to order a single lump sum or a series of lump sums in one...

Produced in partnership with Katherine Illsley of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

In financial proceedings, will the court accept an order where maintenance is expressed to be paid in a foreign currency rather than GBP?

When parties divorce, the court has the power to make any of the orders contained in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973), being property...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

Where an order for costs has already been made on pronouncement of decree nisi, is it still possible to include in the recital to a financial consent order within divorce proceedings that the provisions are intended to be ‘in full and final satisfaction of all claims in respect of legal costs including those of the divorce or dissolution proceedings’ and to include provision in the order that there should be no order as to costs?

In financial remedies proceedings, it is usually the case that a court will order that the parties bear their own costs of the proceedings. This is...

Produced in partnership with Tori Adams of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

If a party dies after a consent order and pension sharing annex has been sealed by the court but before decree absolute, will the consent order and pension sharing order be effective? Will the surviving party receive the financial settlement under the consent order?

Essentially, unless the decree is made absolute, the orders for financial provision will not take effect. In relation to lump sum and periodical...

Produced in partnership with Nicholas Starks of St Ives Chambers 8th Jan

Q&As

On Form D81, if the family home is registered in sole name, does the other party need to state their interest in the home at section 7A on the form?

An important protection contained within the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973), is the provision which requires the court to be satisfied that...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Practice notes

Setting aside financial orders including Barder events where no error of the court alleged

BackgroundFor a considerable time there had been doubt and confusion as to the available routes of challenging a financial order (whether or not made...

Produced in partnership with David Salter, deputy High Court judge and Recorder 8th Jan

COVID-19

Q&As

Where a consent order was made providing, inter alia, for the sale of property A and division of net sale proceeds between husband and wife, and the transfer to the wife of properties B and C, and the parties subsequently agree that properties A, B and C will all be transferred to the wife and she will raise the lump sum due to the husband by re-mortgage, can the original order be varied so that the clean break still operates even though the parties have not followed the terms of the original consent order? If so, what is the procedure for doing so?

It is sometimes the case that following on from an order in financial remedy proceedings, whether by consent or imposed by the court, the parties will...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As

What are the implications of referring to either the gross or net value of the former matrimonial home in a consent order providing for the matrimonial home to be transferred to the wife subject to a charge in favour of the husband exercisable on the happening of certain trigger events under a Mesher order?

The simple reason for expressing a charge as a proportion of the gross is that it secures a sum of money (though a percentage means that the chargor...

Produced in partnership with Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk 8th Jan

Q&As