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Legal, pensions and money

Clean Break consent order - is it necessary

(13 Posts)
Honeyrose1 Thu 20-Oct-16 14:41:53

My daughter is getting divorced. After a great deal of wrangling about selling the property she is living there with two children under 7 she and her husband have come to an agreement about selling the matrimonial home. Now they have agreed it seems that they will need a consent order so that neither can make a claim on the other ever again. Neither of them have much money and it would seem unlikely they will have in the future. They both hope to get a small property each - my daughter will have more of the equity as she has the children, hopefully she will be able to get a mortgage, he can afford a bigger mortgage.
Do they actually need a consent order? It is apparently very expensive and there is no legal aid.They tried mediation and that costs an arm and a leg and solicitors charge a phenomenal amount. The consent order has to be drawn up by a solicitor and costs about £800 and neither party has this. Then it goes to court with forms relating to their income etc. The court form is £50 I think.
As neither has any money it will be prohibitive. You cannot get legal aid for divorce.
Has anyone ever got one or anyone know of divorced people who haven't bothered.

Izabella Thu 20-Oct-16 16:51:14

Too risky NOT to have one imho. You never know what the future brings and I think your D. Needs to protect any potential future financial improvement in her situation. Would be interested to hear what others have to think.

Ana Thu 20-Oct-16 19:06:50

It might be possible to get a solicitor to agree to wait for payment of the legal fees until the property is sold.

I'd advise your D to make a free half-hour appointment with a solicitor specialising in divorce matters

Jayanna9040 Thu 20-Oct-16 19:28:27

I have a friend who didn't go for financial settlement when she divorced. She went on to have a successful career, he went from casual job to casual job. Now she is retiring he is entitled to a share of her pension!

grannypiper Thu 20-Oct-16 19:35:50

Honey rose, it is worth every penny, nobody knows what is round the corner, your DD could win a fortune on the lottery or re-marry and her ex could make a claim. £500 IS WAY TO MUCH, IT CAN BE DONE ONLINE.

grannypiper Thu 20-Oct-16 19:41:15

TYPE IN DIVORCE ONLINE, £150 FOR THE ORDER.

daphnedill Fri 21-Oct-16 07:25:08

This is what can happen without a clean break:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/10/millionaire-tycoons-ex-wife-awarded-six-figure-payout-even-thoug/

ninathenana Fri 21-Oct-16 07:44:45

I'm asking with regard to my own D who is at the initial stage of a divorce. Could they draw up their own papers to sign? Would they be legally binding ? Neither D or ex have a penny in savings and they've always rented

Honeyrose1 Fri 21-Oct-16 09:19:52

Thank you all for your input. grannypiper I have looked at wiki divorces who use Bretherton solicitors and the feedback has not been good. I always thought like many others that once you were divorced that was the end of the matter and I think it should be - no matter how much money one party may make after the divorce. However I cannot change the law but I think it needs looking at. Thank you daphnedill for the article. I have looked online and of course all the solicitors say they are necessary but one does also say that if one party wants to make a claim it has to go to court and can be thrown out. My daughter may make a bit more money on her business - not much, and I can see her ex making a claim on it as he is very bitter. There is no other party involved - she asked him to leave for reasons I won't go into and he instigated the divorce. I wonder am I right in thinking that as he instigated the divorce it is up to him to pay the legal costs for the consent order or is it split between them. ninathenana what you suggest would not be legally binding as I also looked into this.

shandi6570 Fri 21-Oct-16 14:53:48

I did my own consent order back in 2007 and used Clean Break for all the paperwork. They made it really simple and it cost £59 (now £87 I think) plus court costs which were £40 at the time. All I had to do was follow their instructions and hand the papers into the County Court for their authorisation. Here is the link www.clean-break.co.uk/

Please DO encourage your daughter to go ahead with getting a consent order, it is really important to safeguard her future.

Honeyrose1 Fri 21-Oct-16 19:09:44

Thank you for the link Shandi. At the moment she is sorting out her finances to make sure she can afford somewhere for herself and children. The decree nisi has gone through but ex has stopped decree absolute until finances settled. This probably won't be sorted until next February so not sure how long it can be held for.

daphnedill Fri 21-Oct-16 20:38:39

As a minimum, I would advise she gets some advice from the CAB. I don't want to pry, but I assume arrangements have been made for the children, because they can complicate matters. The court will want to know that arrangements have been made.

Coolgran65 Sat 22-Oct-16 01:22:18

Here in N.I. We call it... full and final settlement. It is very important. You don't want ex to have a claim on any future asset of dd.