by Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy. Reviewed by Belinda Atkins, Managing Director, Family Legal Ltd. Information is current as of 9 September 2026.
At a Glance
- Before you can apply for a consent order, the two of you need to agree how your money, property and pensions will be divided. The order records that agreement, it does not create it.
- There are 11 realistic ways to reach that agreement, from a conversation at home through to a final hearing in the family court.
- Cost ranges from nothing at all to £30,000 or more per person, and the route you choose usually matters more to the final bill than the size of your assets.
- Family mediation settles most cases in two to three months. Court takes 12 months or longer.
- Whichever route you take, you will both need to give full financial disclosure. There is no way around it.
- Once you have agreed, a solicitor-drafted clean break consent order costs £499 through our network, plus a £62 court fee.
Quick Answer
To agree a consent order, you and your ex-partner first need to reach a financial settlement you are both happy with, then have it written up as a court order and sent to a judge for approval. You can reach that agreement between yourselves, through family mediation, with a barrister's view on what is fair, or through solicitors. A judge only makes the order once you agree, so the agreement always comes first.
On this page
Most people arrive at this page in the same position. The divorce is under way, or nearly done, and someone has told them they still need a financial order. What nobody has explained is that a judge will not decide anything for you at this stage. A consent order is the court's stamp on a deal the two of you have already struck, so the real work is reaching that deal in the first place.
This page sets out every sensible way to do that, what each one costs and how long it takes. If you want the background on the order itself first, our guide to what consent orders do covers it.
What you need to agree before you apply for a consent order
A consent order is a court order that makes a financial agreement legally binding. Before a judge will approve one, you both need to have settled the same handful of questions.
- The family home. Sold and the proceeds split, transferred to one of you, or kept in joint names for a period of time.
- Other property and savings. Who keeps what, and whether any lump sum passes between you.
- Pensions. Whether there will be a pension sharing order, and if so on which pension and at what percentage.
- Debts. Who takes responsibility for each one.
- Spousal maintenance. Whether either of you will pay the other, for how long, or whether you want a clean break instead.
- Child maintenance. Usually handled separately, though it can be recorded in the order.
You do not need to agree who was right about anything. You need to agree the numbers. If you are unsure what a fair division looks like, our explainer on how assets are split on divorce walks through the factors a judge weighs up, which come from section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
Which route is right for you?
Start here rather than at the price list. The right route depends far more on how well the two of you can still talk than on how much money is involved.
If you can still talk
Agree it between you, then get it drafted
Options 1, 2 and 3. Costs little or nothing, and works well where the finances are straightforward and you both know what the other has. Get the agreement sense-checked before you sign anything.
If talking keeps stalling
Bring in someone impartial
Options 4 to 8. Family mediation is the route we recommend for most couples. It settles the majority of cases in two to three months, and you both keep control of the outcome.
If agreement looks unlikely
Have someone else decide
Options 9, 10 and 11. Slower and considerably more expensive, and the outcome stops being yours. Worth it where there is real dishonesty or one of you will not engage at all.
The 11 ways to reach a financial settlement
These are listed roughly in order of cost, starting with the cheapest. Most people do not need to go beyond option 4.
Talking it through yourselves
1. Negotiate between yourselves
The simplest and cheapest option. You sit down together, work through the list above and write down what you have agreed. This works best for shorter marriages, modest assets and couples who can still have a civil conversation about money.
Cost: free. Time: as long as it takes you. Getting the agreement checked before you sign is money well spent.
2. Ask a family member or friend to help
Someone you both trust can keep the conversation on track and stop it drifting into old arguments. It costs nothing and it can work for straightforward situations. The limitation is that they will not know what a court would consider fair, and if they are closer to one of you than the other it can make things worse.
Cost: free. Time: as long as it takes you.
3. Facilitation
For couples who have already agreed in principle and want a professional to sense-check it. You meet a facilitator for 90 minutes, go through what you have decided, and make sure you have covered everything the court will expect to see. A solicitor then handles the divorce and the consent order. Mediate UK explains how facilitation works in more detail.
Cost: from £999 per person. Time: usually a few weeks.
Bringing in someone impartial
4. Family mediation Most recommended
A trained mediator helps the two of you work through the finances and reach an agreement. You each attend a MIAM first, which is a one to one meeting to check mediation suits your situation, then you meet together for two or three joint sessions. The mediator does not take sides and does not decide anything. They help you both see the whole picture and find something workable. At the end you get a memorandum of understanding and an open financial statement, which a solicitor turns into your consent order. See how financial mediation works.
Cost: £500 to £1,000 per person. Free if you qualify for legal aid. A £500 government voucher may also apply where child arrangements are part of your case. Time: two to three months on average.
5. Shuttle mediation
The same process as family mediation, except you stay in separate rooms throughout and the mediator moves between you. Nothing is passed on unless you agree it can be. This suits couples where there has been abuse or intimidation, or where being in the same room would stop either of you speaking freely. Read a mediator's guide to shuttle mediation.
Cost: £700 to £1,200 per person. Free if you qualify for legal aid. The £500 voucher may apply where there is also a dispute about the children. Time: two to three months.
6. Barrister review
Useful where you are close to agreement but stuck on what is fair. You both complete full financial disclosure, then a family law barrister reads the papers and gives their view on the likely range of outcomes if the case went to court. You then decide together whether to accept it. It is not binding, but a neutral expert opinion often breaks a deadlock, because it takes the argument out of the room. See what a barrister review involves.
Cost: £649 plus VAT. Time: two to four weeks after disclosure is complete.
7. Collaborative practice
You each instruct a collaboratively trained solicitor and everyone signs an agreement to settle without going to court, then work through it in a series of four way meetings. If it breaks down, both solicitors have to withdraw and you start again with new ones, which gives everybody a strong reason to keep going. Less common in England and Wales than it once was, and we do not offer it, but it can suit complex cases where both of you want legal support in the room.
Typical cost: £2,000 to £5,000 per person. Time: three to six months.
8. Hybrid mediation
Each of you sits with your own team, which might include a solicitor, an accountant or a pensions expert, and the mediator moves between the groups. It borrows from commercial mediation and is often done in a single long day. It is not something we offer, and it only really earns its cost where there are business interests or complicated pensions to value.
Typical cost: £2,000 to £4,000 per person. Time: often one day, once everyone is prepared.
Not agreed everything yet?
A consent order needs both of you to agree first. Family mediation helps you reach a fair agreement without going to court, and it settles most financial cases in two to three months.
Book a MIAM with Mediate UKLetting someone else decide
9. Instruct a solicitor to negotiate
Your solicitor writes to your ex-partner or their solicitor, asks for financial information and puts forward proposals. Offers go back and forth in letters. It gives you someone in your corner, which matters if you feel outmatched, but each letter is billed and the pace is set by whoever replies slowest. A good number of these cases end up in court anyway.
Typical cost: £5,000 to £15,000 per person. Time: around six months.
10. Arbitration
You both appoint a family arbitrator and agree in advance to be bound by their decision. It is private, you choose who decides and you get a date far sooner than the court would give you. The trade off is that you give up control of the outcome and you are still paying for legal representation on top of the arbitrator's fee.
Typical cost: £6,000 to £20,000 per person. Time: three to six months.
11. Apply to court
You apply on Form A and ask a judge to decide. There are usually three stages: a first appointment to set directions, a financial dispute resolution hearing where a judge gives an indication of what they think is fair, and a final hearing if you still cannot settle. Many cases do settle at the second stage. You will normally need to attend a MIAM before you can apply. Treat this as the last option rather than the first, because it is the slowest and by some distance the most expensive.
Typical cost: £30,000 or more per person, plus a £321 court fee to issue a contested application. Time: 12 months or longer.
"The couples who spend the least are almost never the ones with the simplest finances. They are the ones who picked the right route early. We have seen straightforward cases cost tens of thousands because solicitors started writing letters before anyone had tried talking, and we have seen genuinely complicated ones settle in three mediation sessions."
Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy
DIY, mediation, solicitors or court: how the four main routes compare
| Route | Time | What happens | Disclosure | Cost per person | What you end up with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourselves | Depends on you | Conversations at home or by email | Between yourselves | Free | A written agreement you can turn into a consent order, if it is fair |
| Family mediation | 2 to 3 months | A MIAM each, financial disclosure, then 2 to 3 joint sessions | Mediation forms, or Form E | £500 to £1,000, free if you qualify for legal aid | A memorandum of understanding and an open financial statement, ready for drafting |
| Solicitor negotiation | 6 months on average | A solicitor each, disclosure, then offers by letter | Form E | £5,000 to £15,000 | A consent order drafted by the solicitors |
| Family court | 12 months or more | Form A, first appointment, financial dispute resolution hearing, final hearing | Form E | £30,000 or more | An order imposed by a judge |
Costs shown are what people typically pay in England and Wales and will vary with your circumstances. The court fees are set nationally: £62 to apply for a financial order by consent and £321 for a contested application, as of July 2026.
What you both need to disclose
Every route on this page requires the same thing: honest, complete financial disclosure from both of you. A judge cannot decide whether an agreement is fair without knowing what there is to divide, and they will not approve a consent order on incomplete information.
You will each need to set out:
- Property, with a current value and the mortgage outstanding
- Pensions, with an up to date cash equivalent value for each one
- Savings, investments and any business interests
- Income from all sources, including benefits
- Debts and liabilities
Two points catch people out. The first is timing: the court wants your position as it is now, not as it was when you separated, so figures gathered two years ago will need refreshing. The second is that disclosure is not optional even where you both already agree. Our guide on whether you can get a consent order without financial disclosure explains why, and what happens to orders made on incomplete information.
If you are agreeing between yourselves, the shorter Form D81 statement of information is what goes to the judge with your order. If you are in solicitor negotiation or court proceedings, you will be completing the much longer Form E instead.
Help with the cost: legal aid and the £500 voucher
Two forms of help exist, and they work differently.
Legal aid for family mediation
Legal aid for mediation is means-tested. Financial eligibility is the whole test, so if you meet the income, savings and capital rules you can get it, whether or not there has been any abuse in the relationship. If you qualify, your MIAM and your mediation sessions are free to you. Where one of you qualifies and the other does not, the person who is not eligible may still have their MIAM and first joint session covered.
Mediate UK is a Legal Aid Agency contracted provider for family mediation, so legal aid mediation is available through them directly. You can check whether you are likely to qualify in a few minutes, or read the GOV.UK guidance on legal aid for family mediation.
The £500 family mediation voucher
The government voucher scheme contributes up to £500 per case towards mediation. It is not means-tested, so income and savings are not part of the test. What matters is the type of dispute: the voucher is for cases involving arrangements for children, and it can cover a case about family finances only where you are also in dispute about a child. A finance-only case does not qualify. It also does not cover the cost of the MIAM itself. Your mediator applies for it on your behalf, and it goes straight to them rather than to you. Full details are on the Family Mediation Council website, as of July 2026.
Legal aid for a solicitor
This is a separate scheme with a different test. Means-tested legal aid for solicitor help in most private family cases was withdrawn on 1 April 2013. It remains available to victims of domestic abuse and in cases involving child safety, but you will need to provide evidence and you will also need to be financially eligible.
You have agreed. What happens next?
Once you have a settlement you are both happy with, three documents go to the court together:
- The consent order itself, setting out the terms in the wording the court expects
- Form A, the notice of application, filed by consent
- Form D81, the statement of information giving the judge a summary of both your finances
A judge reads them and, in the great majority of cases, approves the order without either of you attending court. The court fee is £62. You cannot apply until your conditional order has been made in the divorce, and the financial order does not take effect until the final order. Our guide to filing a consent order with the court covers the sequence in detail, and we have separate guidance on how long approval usually takes.
If neither of you will be paying the other maintenance and you want to close off all future claims, what you need is a clean break consent order. Without one, financial claims can stay open indefinitely, which is what happened in Wyatt v Vince, where the Supreme Court allowed a financial claim to proceed more than 20 years after the divorce.
Agreed everything? Make it binding.
Our network drafts your clean break consent order, Form A and Form D81 for a fixed fee of £499, with a two week turnaround. The court fee is £62. If you reached your agreement in mediation, Mediate UK's consent order package at £1,649 plus VAT per person includes the mediation, the drafting and a solicitor dealing with the court for you.
Get my consent order draftedClicking takes you to Family Law Service to purchase online.
Frequently asked questions
What if we cannot agree on a consent order?
You have three realistic options. Try mediation, which often finds common ground even after direct conversations have broken down. Get a barrister review, so you both have an independent view of what a court would be likely to order. Or apply to court and ask a judge to decide, which should be the last of the three rather than the first. A judge cannot make a consent order unless you agree, so if agreement is genuinely impossible the application becomes a contested one.
Do we have to do a financial disclosure?
Yes. Whether you agree at the kitchen table or fight it out at a final hearing, you both need to give full and honest disclosure of your finances. That covers property and values, pensions and their values, savings and investments, income, and debts. The court needs it to decide whether what you have agreed is fair, and an order made without it can be set aside later.
Can we use figures from when we separated rather than now?
No. The court wants up to date information from the point you apply, not from the date you separated. Your circumstances may have changed, house prices move, and pension values change constantly. Using old figures is one of the more common reasons a judge sends a consent order back with questions.
What if my ex will not cooperate with financial disclosure?
A consent order needs both of you, so you cannot proceed with one if your ex-partner will not take part. Mediation is usually the next step, because a mediator can explain why disclosure is required and what happens if it is refused. If that does not work, applying to court gives the judge power to order disclosure, and there are consequences for someone who ignores that order.
How long does it take to reach an agreement?
It depends on the route. Agreeing between yourselves can happen in an afternoon. Family mediation takes two to three months on average, across two or three joint sessions. Solicitor negotiation averages around six months. Court proceedings run to 12 months or more. Once you have agreed, drafting takes about two weeks, and the court then needs its own time to approve the order.
Do we both need a solicitor to agree a consent order?
No. There is no requirement for either of you to have a solicitor, and plenty of couples reach agreement without one. What does need doing properly is the drafting, because the order has to be worded in a way the court will accept and has to cover everything you intend it to. It can help to get independent legal advice on the agreement itself before you sign, particularly where there are pensions or a business involved.
Does a consent order cover child maintenance?
It can be recorded in the order, but child maintenance is usually dealt with separately through the Child Maintenance Service. Even where the figure is written into a consent order, either parent can generally ask the CMS to take over the calculation after twelve months, so it does not work in the same permanent way as the rest of the order.
Getting to an agreement you can both live with
The order is the easy part. Reaching the agreement is where the time, the money and the difficulty sit, and the route you choose at the start makes more difference to all three than almost anything else. If you can talk, talk, and get the result checked. If talking keeps stalling, bring in a mediator before you bring in solicitors. Leave court until you have genuinely run out of alternatives.
Whichever way you get there, the finish line is the same: a written agreement, full disclosure from both of you, and an order a judge is willing to seal. You can see what that costs on our costs page.
Not sure your agreement is fair?
If you have agreed something but one of you is uneasy about it, an hour with a family solicitor before you sign is usually cheaper than fixing it afterwards.
Get one hour of legal adviceAbout 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.