At a Glance
- A sealed consent order is one a judge has approved and stamped with the court seal. It is now a binding court order.
- Sealing is not the same as taking effect. A financial order takes effect once the final order in the divorce has also been made.
- Nothing happens automatically. The obligations in the order are for you and your former spouse to carry out.
- A pension share is the one part with a statutory deadline: the provider has four months to implement it once it has everything it needs.
- A property transfer needs a Land Registry application, usually a form TR1, which the order does not do for you.
- Keep the sealed copy permanently. You will need it for the pension provider, the conveyancer and any future dispute.
Quick Answer
When a judge seals your consent order, the court returns a stamped copy and the terms become a binding court order. What happens next is down to you: a sealed consent order does not move money, transfer a house or split a pension by itself. Each obligation has to be carried out, usually within the timescales written into the order, and the pension share, property transfer and lump sum each follow a different route.
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Most guidance about consent orders stops at the moment the order is approved. That is the point at which people usually have the most questions, because the document that arrives back from the court says what will happen without saying who does it, or when.
This page picks up from there: what sealing means, what takes effect when, and the practical sequence over the weeks that follow.
What “sealed” actually means
Sealing is the court’s stamp. It confirms a judge has read the draft order and the Form D81, considered whether the terms are within the range a court could approve, and made the order in the terms you both asked for. The sealed copy is returned to you, usually by post or through the online portal.
Three things are true from that moment. The terms are enforceable as a court order rather than as a private agreement. The claims dismissed by the clean break are dismissed for good. And the order can only be changed in narrow circumstances, which our page on varying a consent order covers.
Sealed, effective and implemented are three different things
| Stage | What has happened | What has not |
|---|---|---|
| Sealed | The judge has approved the order and the court has stamped it. | Nothing has been paid, transferred or shared. |
| Takes effect | The final order in the divorce has been made, so the financial order can operate. | Still nothing has actually moved. |
| Implemented | The money has been paid, the property transferred, the pension share put into effect. | Nothing, at this point you are finished. |
The gap between the first and second row catches people out. A financial order made on divorce cannot take effect until the divorce itself is final. If your consent order was sealed before the final order, it is waiting rather than working.
The first weeks, in order
| Timing | What happens | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| On receipt | Check the sealed order matches the draft you signed. Store a copy safely and send one to anyone who needs it. | Both of you |
| Straight away | Send the sealed order and the pension sharing annex to the pension scheme, if there is a pension share. | Usually the member’s former spouse, or their adviser |
| Within days | Instruct a conveyancer if a property is transferring, and start the mortgage release with the lender. | The party receiving the property |
| On the date in the order | Pay any lump sum. Set up any periodical payments by standing order. | The paying party |
| Up to four months | The pension provider implements the share and issues a discharge notice. | The pension scheme |
| Once everything is done | Confirm in writing to each other that the order has been complied with in full. | Both of you |
Pension sharing: the part with a real deadline
A pension sharing order is the only part of a typical consent order with a statutory implementation period. Once the scheme has the sealed order, the pension sharing annex, and everything else it requires, it has four months to implement the share. In practice most schemes take somewhat less, though public sector schemes can use the full period.
Two points worth knowing. The scheme will normally charge an implementation fee, which varies widely and should ideally have been dealt with in the order. And the four months does not begin until the scheme has a complete set of documents, so an incomplete submission does not start the clock.
Check the annex before you send it
The pension sharing annex must name the scheme correctly and state the percentage to be transferred. If either is wrong, the provider will not act on it, and correcting it means going back to the court. Our page on the consent order forms covers what the annex needs to contain.
Property: the order is not the transfer
An order that says a property “shall be transferred” is an instruction to the parties, not a conveyance. To change who owns the property at the Land Registry, someone has to make an application, normally using form TR1, and the outgoing owner has to be released from the mortgage by the lender.
The mortgage release is the step that most often stalls. A lender is not bound by the court order and will only release a borrower if the remaining borrower can service the loan alone. If that is in doubt, it needs sorting before the order is made rather than after. Where a property is being sold instead, the order should already say who markets it, how the price is set, and how a disagreement is resolved.
A pension share or a complex transfer?
The fixed fee £499 clean break service covers straightforward orders. Where a pension is being shared or there is more than one property, Family Law Service can advise on the right package.
What if the other person does not comply?
A sealed consent order is enforceable, which is precisely what an informal agreement is not. If a lump sum is not paid or a transfer is not made, you can apply to the court to enforce it. The route depends on the type of obligation: a money judgment can be enforced by attachment of earnings, a third party debt order or a charging order, while an obligation to sign a document can be dealt with by the court signing in that person’s place.
Enforcement is usually a last resort and a firm letter often resolves it. Our guide to enforcing a consent order sets out the options in full.
“The most common thing we see after sealing is nothing at all. Both people file the order away, assume it has happened, and discover eighteen months later that the pension was never sent to the scheme. Diarise the steps the week the order arrives.”
Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy
What sealing closes off
A clean break consent order dismisses each party’s claims against the other, including claims against the estate on death. That is the whole point of it. Without a sealed order dismissing them, financial claims survive divorce indefinitely, as the Supreme Court confirmed in Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14, where a claim proceeded many years after the marriage ended.
Once sealed, capital orders such as lump sums and property transfers are intended to be final. Maintenance orders can still be varied. There is a narrow route to set an order aside where something material was not disclosed, but it is genuinely narrow. See consent orders and financial disclosure for where that line sits.
Frequently asked questions
What does it mean when a consent order is sealed?
It means a judge has approved it and the court has applied its seal, making it a binding court order rather than a private agreement. The sealed copy is returned to you and is the document you rely on from then on.
How long after a consent order is sealed does it take effect?
A financial order takes effect once the final order in the divorce has been made. If the final order came first, the consent order takes effect on sealing. If it has not been made yet, the consent order waits until it is.
Does the money move automatically once the order is sealed?
No. Nothing happens automatically. The order sets out obligations for you and your former spouse to carry out. Lump sums are paid by the person ordered to pay, pension shares are implemented by the scheme once it receives the paperwork, and property transfers need a Land Registry application.
How long does a pension share take to implement?
The scheme has four months from the point it holds everything it needs. Many implement more quickly. The period does not start until the submission is complete, so send the sealed order and the annex together with anything else the scheme asks for.
Do I need a solicitor to transfer the house after the order?
You will normally need a conveyancer, because the transfer is a Land Registry application and the mortgage lender has to release the outgoing borrower. The court order requires the transfer to happen but does not carry it out.
What do I do if I lose the sealed consent order?
You can apply to the court that made it for a copy. There is usually a fee, and it takes time, so keep the original somewhere permanent and take a digital copy as well.
Can a sealed consent order be changed?
Capital orders are intended to be final. Maintenance can be varied where circumstances change. An order can be set aside in limited circumstances, principally where there was material non-disclosure or a significant unforeseen event shortly afterwards. See our page on varying a consent order.
When can I say I am financially separated?
Once the order is sealed, the divorce final order has been made, and every obligation in the order has been carried out. At that point the clean break has done its job and neither of you has a claim against the other.
The week your order arrives
Read it against the draft, confirm the divorce final order position, send the pension paperwork, instruct the conveyancer, and diarise every date the order mentions. Everything after that is administration, but it is administration nobody else will do for you.
About the author
Jess Knauf is the Director of Client Strategy at Mediate UK and co-founder of Family Law Service. With over six years’ experience in family mediation, Jess is focused on making family law easy to understand and accessible, and is the author of The Complete Guide to Divorce in England and Wales.