Amicable consent order

Evening all,

After a 17 year marriage me and the stbxw have reached an amicable agreement regarding our financial agreement and are having a Consent Order drafted by a solicitor now.

we have agreed to split the equity of £150k from the FMH 80/20 in her favour (120k/30k). This has been agreed to offset my pension of £190k. She will also retain her £19k pension.

As everything was amicable we have decided to keep costs to a minimum and have done most things our self. I have only engaged with a solicitor to identify a reasonable settlement point for the our negotiations and to draft the consent order.

the only legal advice my wife had was a free session prior to the agreement.

I have read a lot of things which says a judge will want us both to have had legal advice. Is the legal advice we have had sufficient and how do we declare this to the judge?

thanks in advance

They might want a brief hearing to confirm you are both happy and understand what you are agreeing.

Wyspecial,

Thanks for the quick reply. The solicitor producing the consent order and application is also going to add the justification to the D81 to explain how we have reached the agreed figure (more liquid equity in exchange for offsetting the pension claim).

Is it worth us staying in the D81 that we have both had legal advice prior to our negotiations?

Also
Would it be worth us drafting a letter each to explain we understand what we are agreeing?

You can’t say you’ve taken legal advice if you haven’t.

If there has been full disclosure and the order has been properly drawn up by a solicitor you’ll have no issues. The judge may, possibly, wish to see you both but may be happy to stamp the order without doing so. It’s a case of substitute and see but it’s nothing to worry about.

Wyspecial,


Sorry for the confusion I know I can’t put down we had advice if we didn’t. Both me and my ex wife each spoke to a solicitor prior to our negotiations. Does this constitute legal advice?

The only financial disclosure we have completed is the D81.

The consent order is being drafted by a solicitor, along with the application (I wasn’t 100% on competing that and didn’t want to make an error). He is also drafting the justification for the agreement on the D81.

The D81 statement of information that accompanies the application has a question about legal advice.

Without knowing your individual circumstances it is hard to comment on whether what you have agreed will be seen as fair. It is perfectly possible to have an unequal capital split and still divide pensions fairly equally if the circumstances demand it.

Having legal advice is not just a matter of ticking a box , it is important to ensure that the agreement is fair and will be seen as such by a judge. Your ex could invest in a fixed price legal financial consultation via this site to get the terms of the CO reviewed in light of all the circumstances.

Hadenoughnow

A cautionary tale. My partner has been involved in an issue where the D81 came back to bite,
My partner was represented until the law firm she was with closed its family department 3 weeks before the final hearing to agree the consent order. Immediately before the final hearing (ie when she was unrepresented) the D81 was produced and she signed it on the day of the hearing itself. In the interim the opposition solicitor had slipped in a seemingly innocuous phrase (and changed some of the husbands income figures). 9 years later these have played a significant part in the ex husband's application to vary.
So all I am saying is do check what is there and that you understand the implications. If that requires legal advice then I suggest you get it.