This page is designed to help give clarity to some of the terminology that is commonly used during the divorce process and financial orders. 

​

​

Common Consent Order Documents:

​

D81 - this is one of the main documents required to apply for a consent order. It is a form designed by the government which is also known as a "statement of information" and it details all of your finances in a way that the court will want to see them. Although the D81 will show what your agreement intends to achieve, it is not part of the agreement itself, it is only a declaration of your finances and their truthfulness.

​

Consent Order - this is the document that acts as the legal contract when you apply for a consent order. It will contain all of the terms for your agreement such as how much you will receive from your spouse and when or how you will split a property. It will also include the clean break clause which separates you financially. It is sometimes referred to as a "clean break order" or a "financial order" but the most correct term is technically a "financial order by consent" because this is what the court calls it.

 

Sealed Consent Order - this is the final document you will receive when your consent order has been approved. It will have a circular stamp in the top right corner which shows it has been approved by court. Sometimes, pension companies may ask for this. 

​

Form A - this is a form that must be filed along with your consent order application. You can think of this as the actual application form for a judge to review the consent order documents that you have drafted. It indicates some basic information about what you are applying for and how you intend to pay. 

​

General Order - this is a document that the court will issue to you if your consent order application has not been approved. It will detail some vague reasons for it not being approved and indicate how you can remedy the situation. 

​

Form E - this is the form that solicitor's will request you to fill out when they are beginning proceedings for a contested financial order. This is not required for a consent order.

​

P1 - this is a form that will need to be filed along with your consent order application if you intend to share any of your private pensions with your spouse as part of the agreement. When approved, it will have a circular stamp from court in the top right corner and will need to be sent to your pension provider so that they can implement your pension share. 

​

​

Common Divorce Documents:

​

Certificate of Entitlement - this is short for "certificate of entitlement to a conditional order" and is the first of 3 documents you will receive throughout your divorce process. The certificate of entitlement tends to confuse people because it looks as though you need to do something with it, however it is nothing more than a formal notification. The only thing this document really says is that the actual conditional order will be granted on a specific date. You receive the certificate of entitlement about 5-6 months into your divorce and it should be granted about 1-2 weeks after you have applied for the conditional order.

​

Conditional Order - this is the second of 3 documents that you will receive throughout the divorce process. This document is the court's way of officially telling you that you are able to get divorced and everything is ready for you to finalise it if you still want to go ahead. It will also give you date which is the earliest date you can apply for the final order to finalise your divorce which will be in 6 weeks time. You should receive this document approximately 2-3 weeks after the certificate of entitlement. This document used to be called a "Decree Nisi" however the courts changed the name to "conditional order" for clarity.

​

Final Order - this is the document that legally proves that you are divorced so keep it safe! It is usually granted 1-2 days after applying for it. This document used to be called a "Decree Absolute" however the courts changed the name to "final order" for clarity.

​

Decree Nisi - this is effectively the same document as a conditional order above but this is the old name from the divorce system before April 2022. 

​

Decree Absolute - this is effectively the same document as a final order above but this is the old name from the divorce system before April 2022. 

​

​

Terms and Phrases:

 

Financial Order - the financial order term is often used to mean a financial order of any type, i.e. a contested or consented route however it would be more accurate to say financial order for contested financial orders only. This is where both parties cannot agree amicably how to split their assets and need the court to decide for them. You can read more about a financial order on the government website here.

​

Consent Order - although this has been defined above as a document, the term is used more generally to mean obtaining a financial order by consent by drafting all of the required documents (Form A, D81, consent order, P1) and getting court approval. Many people use this term to more specifically mean they want a clean break from their spouse. You will see us primarily use this term on our website instead of any other equivalents. 

​

Clean Break Order - this is another name for a consent order and can be used interchangeably.

​

Clean Break - the "clean break" part of a clean break order or consent order is actually referring to a specific clause within the consent order that states that neither party can claim from each other for anything in the future. This is effectively cutting all of your financial ties with each other and is the main reason people seek a consent order in the first place. It protects you against any future claims from your spouse, full stop and is likely the reason why this phrase has caught on and developed into the "clean break order".

​

Consented Route - be careful not to mix up the words! The consented route is where both parties can agree on how they want to split their assets so they can apply for a consent order. This route does not require any mediation or solicitors.

​

Contested Route - this is where both parties cannot agree on how to split their assets and need a court to decide for them. It is the last resort after they have tried mediation and negotiations through solicitors. 

​

Pension Sharing - this is where one party wants to split a private pension with their spouse as part of their consent order. It requires a P1 form to be submitted along with the consent order application and then must be sent to the pension provider once approved. Pension sharing is probably simpler than you expect, you do not need to withdraw your pension and give it to the other person or pay them a portion of your monthly pension income. The pension company will take the percentage you have requested from your account and set up a new account in your spouse's name. From that moment on, your spouse will have their own pension for that amount that they can use as they wish as if they had earnt it themselves. 

​