Do You Need a Consent Order Cover Letter? UK Guide

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A consent order cover letter is the short covering note some people send to the family court alongside their consent order paperwork, and one of the most common questions we get is whether it is actually needed. The short answer is that it is optional. The longer answer is that a good one takes ten minutes, can save you several weeks, and costs nothing.

This guide covers when a covering letter helps, when it makes no difference at all, exactly what to put in one, and the things people put in them that they should not. If you want the wider picture of what happens when you send it all in, that guide sets out the full process.

Is a consent order cover letter a legal requirement?

No. The rules that govern consent order applications are specific about what has to be filed, and a covering letter is not mentioned. Under rule 9.26 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010, the applicant files two copies of the draft order, one of them endorsed with a signed statement from the other party confirming they agree, and both of you file a statement of information. That statement of information is the Form D81.

So the mandatory bundle is the draft order, the Form A notice of application filed by consent, and the Form D81. A judge who receives those three things with the fee paid can approve your order without ever seeing a letter from you.

What the rules do not tell you is how court offices actually work. A postal application lands on a desk with hundreds of others, and the person opening it has to work out which case it belongs to and what you are asking for. That is the gap a covering letter fills.

What a consent order cover letter actually does

Think of it as an instruction slip for the court office rather than an argument aimed at the judge. It does four practical jobs.

First, it links your paperwork to your divorce file. Court staff match your application to your existing case using the case number, and a letter puts that number front and centre rather than buried on page two of a form.

Second, it confirms the set is complete. Listing the enclosures means that if something has gone astray in the post, the court can see what was meant to be there instead of returning the whole application.

Third, it deals with the money. You can confirm how the £62 court fee is being paid, or quote your Help with Fees reference if you have applied for a reduction.

Fourth, it tells the court where to send the sealed order. That matters more than people expect, because a sealed consent order going to an old address is a genuine problem when you need it years later for a mortgage or a pension provider.

What to put in a consent order cover letter

Keep it to one side of A4. A court office is not going to read three pages, and a long letter tends to raise questions rather than settle them. Cover these points:

• Your case number, taken from your divorce paperwork, at the top.
• Both parties’ full names, as they appear on the divorce application.
• What you are asking for, in one line: approval of the enclosed draft consent order by consent.
• A list of enclosures: the draft order (signed by both of you), the Form A by consent, the Form D81, and the fee or Help with Fees reference.
• The stage of the divorce, confirming the conditional order has been made and giving the date.
• Contact details for both parties, including the address the sealed order should be returned to.
• A short explanation of anything unusual, if there is anything unusual. Two or three sentences, no more.

When a consent order cover letter is genuinely worth writing

There is one situation where a covering letter earns its keep, and that is when your agreement looks odd on paper. A judge reads the numbers in the D81 and the terms in the order, and if the two do not obviously fit together, the usual response is a written query, which adds weeks.

Common examples include one person keeping most of the equity in the home because they are taking on all the debt, a pension staying untouched because it was largely built up before the marriage, or a smaller share now in exchange for keeping a business intact. None of these are problems. They just need a sentence of context so the judge is not left guessing.

That said, the safest place for an explanation is inside the order itself, in the recitals at the front, or in the section of the D81 that invites further information. Those documents stay on the court file. A letter can be separated from the bundle, so treat it as a helpful signpost rather than the place your reasoning lives.

When you can skip it

Not every application needs one. If your consent order is submitted through the online financial remedy service, the digital form already captures your case number, the parties, the documents and the fee, so a separate letter adds nothing.

The same applies if a solicitor or a fixed-fee drafting service is filing for you. Preparing the covering letter, or the online equivalent, is part of what you are paying for, and you will not need to write anything yourself. Our own service handles the order, Form A and D81 together with the submission, and you can see how that compares with other routes on the costs page.

A straightforward clean break order with an even split, no pensions in issue and matching figures across all three documents also needs very little explaining. A one-line letter listing the enclosures is plenty.

What not to put in it

A few things do more harm than good in a covering letter.

Avoid criticising your former partner. The application is agreed, and anything that reads as a dispute invites the judge to look harder at whether the agreement really is consensual.

Avoid introducing terms that are not in the order. If a promise matters, it belongs in the order, because that is the document that is legally enforceable. Anything mentioned only in a letter is worth nothing later.

Avoid figures that contradict your D81. Inconsistent numbers across the paperwork are one of the most common reasons applications come back, so check the letter against the forms before it goes.

“We see a lot of applications delayed for reasons that a couple of sentences would have solved. If your split is not 50/50, tell the court why in the recitals, and mirror it briefly in your covering letter. Judges are not looking for equal, they are looking for fair and explained.” Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy at Mediate UK.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a consent order cover letter to file my order?

No. The Family Procedure Rules require the draft consent order, the Form A by consent and the Form D81. A covering letter is optional, though it is helpful when you are filing by post and want to make sure the court office matches your paperwork to the right case.

Who should write the consent order cover letter?

Either of you can write it, and it is usually the applicant. If a solicitor or drafting service is submitting the application, they will prepare it. Only one letter is needed, not one from each party.

Can I explain an unequal split in the cover letter?

You can, and a brief explanation is often useful. The stronger approach is to put the reason in the recitals of the order or in the further information section of the Form D81, because those documents stay on the court file and are what the judge relies on.

Should I mention the court fee in the letter?

Yes. Confirm how the £62 fee is being paid, or quote your Help with Fees reference number if you have applied for a reduction. You can check whether you qualify on GOV.UK.

How long should a consent order cover letter be?

One page at most, and often half a page. Court staff need the case number, the list of enclosures and the return address. Long letters slow things down rather than speeding them up.

Will a cover letter stop my consent order being rejected?

Not on its own. A judge approves an order based on the terms and the financial picture in the D81, so an unfair or incomplete application will still get a query. A clear letter simply removes the avoidable delays caused by missing information or an unexplained figure.

Your next step

A consent order cover letter is a courtesy, not a requirement. Write one if you are filing by post, keep it to a single page, and use it to identify your case, list what you have enclosed and flag anything a judge might reasonably ask about. What actually determines whether your order is approved is the quality of the three documents behind it, so that is where the care belongs. You can browse more guides on the consent order blog, or have the paperwork prepared for you.