Divorce proceedings are never going to be easy, no matter the circumstances, so it’s important that you know what you’re going to be facing and what you may have to do in order to end your marriage.

It may well be that you and your husband or wife decide that you can split without having to go through a court hearing, in which case a consent order is needed to be made by a judge if you and your current partner have agreed upon a financial settlement and have agreed to a financial order being made.

This consent order will set out for the court how assets will be split, covering everything from money and property to pensions and savings. It can also include details regarding spousal or child maintenance arrangements if applicable, enabling the family court to enforce these if maintenance goes unpaid in the future.

In order to separate finances, you and your partner will have to reach a financial settlement and this can then be turned into a court order, which is different from your divorce.

If this isn’t in place after your divorce, then your agreement isn’t legally binding and the court will be unable to enforce it. You can apply for this order at the decree nisi stage of proceedings and it will become legally binding when your Decree Absolute comes through.

Consent orders are a sensible option if you’re selling or transferring property, paying over money or making a pension sharing order. This will ensure that the other party involved will fulfil their obligations and it will stop either one of you trying to claim for more assets or cash later down the line, so both of you have protection in place once your divorce is finalised.

What to think about before you apply for your consent order

The assumption is often made that because you and your partner have agreed to a financial settlement, the judge will immediately grant a consent order – but this may not be the case. The consent order will only be granted if the judge thinks that the order is fair to both of you.

If they deem it to be unfair to either one of you, it’s likely that you’ll be asked to provide further information detailing how you came to the settlement. This is to make sure that both of you understand fully what the order covers.

You also both need to make sure that you’re being as transparent as possible when it comes to your money, property and assets.

This is the only way that a fair financial settlement can be decided upon. If you don’t think, for whatever reason, that your partner has fully disclosed any and all information relating to money, pensions and capital, you may want to consider talking to Buckinghamshire divorce solicitors for some legal advice in this regard.

It would be wise for both involved parties to seek independent legal advice from their own divorce solicitors when considering a consent order, as this will help ensure that the agreement between the two of you is fair – and, as such, will make it more likely that it will be approved by the court.

Advice for those considering divorce

Deciding to end a marriage is certainly not something that either party involved will come to lightly and it’s not something that should be rushed into. In any case, you will only be able to get divorced if you’ve been married for at least a year.

It typically takes between four to six months to get a divorce legally finalised if you and your partner agree on the matters in question and the reasons behind why the relationship has failed. If you have issues relating to children, property or finances, it could take longer to finalise.

You might be tempted to head to the internet to see if you can find any sites promising you cheap divorce packages but you’d be wise to steer clear of these as they may not be able to get you the help you need and you’ll find you’ll still need to pay the application fee.

Before applying, try and agree with your partner the reason for the divorce. There are five grounds for divorce you can site: adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, if you’ve lived apart for at least two years and you both agree to divorce, or if you’ve lived apart for at least five years and your partner doesn’t agree to the divorce.

You could also look into a legal separation, which allows you to make decisions regarding finances and living arrangements without actually getting divorced. This won’t stop you from being able to get divorced later down the line but you will have to pay another fee (of £550) in order to get divorced.

Annulment is also another option if you want to end a marriage that isn’t legal in the UK. Circumstances of this could be if one of you was either already married or in a civil partnership, or if you didn’t properly agree to the marriage (if you were drunk, for example, or perhaps coerced into it).

An annulment can also be carried out if you haven’t had sex with your partner since getting married.

An important note to bear in mind is that if you’re living in the UK as a dependent on your partner’s visa, once the divorce has gone through and been finalised you will lose your visa status. This means you’ll need to see if you can stay on in this country in the long term and you may need to apply for a new visa.

Find further advice on the Citizens Advice website.