Can I just use a solicitor for consent order?

Hi,

I am lodging my own divorce petition to the court and a section on there asks if I am represented by a solicitor. I have ticked the box to say "I am not represented by a solicitor in these proceedings" however I was thinking about using a solicitor for the Consent Order so is this ok for me to do?

This is my first time posting here and hope I am in the right place. Any help gratefully received.

Hi season5.

I''ve only been on here (literally) 5 minutes so I don''t feel very qualified to give advice but I can say from my own experience that yes it is ok to tick the non representation by a solicitor box. The form you are filling in is the Petition which you are undertaking yourself. The consent order is a totally different form which must be drawn up by a solicitor in any case so it is unrelated to the Petition.

Hope this assists.

Hi,

Oh thank you very much for your reply! That has relieved my mind as i wasn''t quite sure.

Many Thanks!!

Yes, you can choose to instruct a solicitor o draft/approve a consent order, but this of course presupposes that there is consent.

If you are going down thi road it might be reasonable to ask your solicitor''s advice as to whether the order is a fair one.

LMM

Many solicitors won''t draft a consent order if the client does''t take legal advice, or at least signs a disclaimer, because solicitors leave themselves open to negligence claims when legal advice isn''t taken.

I know solicitors who offer and ''execution only'' service where they will take instructions on the terms of agreement and draft the appropriate order.

As Fiona says, there will be disclaimers which specify that no advice was given as to the appropriateness of the agreement. And no guarantees as to whether the court will accept or reject the order.

Charles

Some interesting replies.

In my case our agreement would on the face of it appear to be seriously biased in my favour from a totally objective pov.

My solicitor has not really committed to giving any view on our proposed agreement although she awaits our completed Form D81. She did say that it''s a bit of a lottery at court depending on which court your case is heard in and which Judge you get on the day!

I do hope she expresses some opinion either way on the proposed consent order BEFORE she drafts it and charges me for the privilege. I haven''t been asked to sign a disclaimer..yet!

I don''t think ANY solicitor would commit to offering any guarantee of anything would they?

Better call Saul!