How do you get a Divorce Financial Court Order by Agreement?
It can be hard to know where to start to get a divorce financial court order. It is however important that you get a divorce financial court order even if you think you have reached an agreement with your former husband or wife. A financial court order offers you financial protection and peace of mind. In this article, our family law solicitors talk you through how to get a financial court order by agreement.
Online and London Family Law Solicitors
For family law legal advice call the expert London family lawyers at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or complete our online enquiry form .
Getting a divorce financial court order by agreement
There are many ways you can get a financial court order by agreement. A negotiated divorce financial settlement can be achieved through:
- Direct discussions and agreement with your partner
- Solicitor negotiations
- Roundtable meetings
- Family mediation
If you reach an agreement without input from a family solicitor you should take specialist legal advice to:
- Check that your agreement provides a fair divorce financial settlement and
- To convert your agreement into a court order. That is necessary whether your agreement is written on a scrap of paper after meeting your ex in a pub to thrash out a compromise or is detailed in a memorandum of understanding prepared by your family mediator. If your agreement is not converted into a legally binding financial court order you may not be able to rely on it meaning you either may not be able to enforce it. Alternatively, your ex may be able to bring additional financial claims in the future even though you thought you had agreed to an end to any financial links with them
Some people are wary of talking to a divorce financial settlement solicitor about their financial agreement as they fear that the lawyer will unravel the agreement and encourage you both to spend a lot of money in legal fees in going to court. The best family law solicitors will want to check that you:
- Exchanged adequate financial disclosure and understood the disclosed paperwork before you reached your agreement
- Got your assets valued appropriately. For example, the pension transfer value of your spouse’s pension may not accurately reflect the real value of the pension and neither of you may have been aware of this when coming to an agreement. Alternatively, family shares in a company may have been under or overvalued. An overvaluation can take place if the net tax effect of a sale is not factored in
- Reality tested your agreement. For example, if you reached an agreement that you would stay in the family home but you did not check out if the mortgage company would agree to transfer the mortgage from your joint names into your sole name or you did not consider how you would pay the mortgage each month once the fixed rate deal ends and you did not negotiate spousal maintenance or child support payments. For example, if you have young children did you consider how you would cope financially if you cannot work because you or your children become unwell? This issue may be resolved by taking out income protection insurance but has that additional outgoing been factored in when negotiating the figure for spousal maintenance payments?
- Have not been put under pressure to reach an agreement – if there was a history of domestic abuse or coercive and controlling behaviour in your relationship you may have been put under pressure to agree to a financial settlement that is unfair to you as it does not meet the financial needs of yourself and your children
A family law solicitor will not unravel your financial agreement for the sake of it but they will want to check that the agreement is right for you before it is converted into a binding financial court order that cannot be changed by you.
Steps to get an agreed financial court order
The steps to get an agreed financial court order are:
- Reach an agreement – there are several ways you can do this but it is best to get expert family law advice before you enter negotiations, led, or supported by your solicitor, so you understand the range of orders the family court has the power to make and the type of court order that the court might make in your personal and financial circumstances. That way you can be confident that the agreement you reach is not significantly out of line with what you could have achieved if you had applied to the court for a divorce financial settlement and asked the family judge to decide what order to make
- Ask your solicitor to prepare a draft financial court order – it is important that a specialist divorce lawyer prepares the draft court order for you or that they check it out if your spouse’s divorce solicitor has prepared the draft court order. That is because the order can be complex or may need to be detailed. For example, if the financial court order contains an order for the sale of the family home or business or a pension sharing order or time-limited spousal maintenance or spousal maintenance that increases in line with the retail price index or a clean break
- Complete a financial statement of information - the court will not approve a financial court order unless the draft order is accompanied by a husband and wife summarising their income, property, and plans in a document called a financial statement of information. Without this summary information, the judge cannot approve the financial court order as the judge cannot decide if the order being requested is fair to both the husband and wife
- Start no-fault divorce proceedings and get a conditional divorce order – the court cannot make a financial court order unless divorce proceedings have been started and the court has made a conditional divorce order. The financial court order cannot be enforced until the divorce proceedings have been finalised
- Ask a judge to approve your draft financial court order – the judge will be asked to approve the financial court order without the need for a court hearing
Obtaining a financial court order by agreement can appear to be a complicated process but the specialist family lawyers at OTS Solicitors can support and guide you to help you secure your financial court order.
Online and London Family Law Solicitors
For family law legal advice call the expert London family lawyers at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or complete our online enquiry form .
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