Since no-fault divorce arrived in England and Wales in April 2022, ending a marriage has become a calmer and more predictable process. Couples no longer need to blame each other, and the paperwork can be handled largely online. Yet one misunderstanding remains surprisingly common: the belief that once the final order is granted, everything is finished. It is not. Many people who speak to family solicitors in Chester about divorce finances are surprised to learn that ending the marriage and settling the money are two entirely separate legal processes.
Two processes, not one
The divorce itself simply dissolves the legal relationship. It says nothing about who keeps the house, how savings are divided or whether one person should support the other. Those questions are dealt with through a financial order, which either the court makes after hearing both sides or, far more commonly, approves as a consent order reflecting what the couple have agreed. Without that order, the financial claims each spouse has against the other stay open, even years after the divorce is complete.
Why open claims can come back
The risk is not theoretical. In the well-known case of Wyatt v Vince, a woman brought a financial claim against her former husband almost twenty years after their divorce, by which time he had built a substantial business. The Supreme Court allowed her claim to proceed. Cases like this are rare, but they show why a clean financial ending matters. Circumstances change: one person may inherit, start a successful company or win a significant sum, and an unsettled divorce leaves the door open. There is also a trap on the other side. If you remarry before making your own financial application, you can lose the right to bring a claim altogether.
Turning an agreement into something binding
Many separating couples reach an amicable agreement between themselves, sometimes with help from a mediator. That is a positive start, but an informal agreement, even one written down and signed, is not automatically binding. To give it legal force, it needs to be drafted as a consent order and approved by a judge, who checks that it is broadly fair. A well drafted consent order can also include a clean break, which ends future claims against income, capital, pensions and estates, giving both people genuine certainty.
The asset people forget: pensions
For many couples, a pension is one of the largest assets they own, sometimes worth more than the family home. It is also the asset most often overlooked, because its value feels distant. Pensions can be shared through a pension sharing order, which transfers a percentage of one person’s pension into a pension for the other. Getting an accurate valuation and, where the figures are significant, specialist advice on how that value is calculated can make a considerable difference to the outcome.
Getting the timing right
A financial consent order can be submitted once the conditional order has been made. In many cases it is sensible to wait until the financial order is approved before applying for the final order. This is especially true where pensions are involved, because until the final order is granted, a spouse usually remains entitled to any widow’s or widower’s benefits if the other dies. Applying for the final order too early can mean losing that protection with nothing agreed in its place.
If you are at the very start and want a broader sense of the stages ahead, this overview of what to expect when going through a divorce is a helpful read alongside the points above. Understanding the whole journey makes it easier to plan each step rather than reacting to it.
The takeaway
No-fault divorce has removed much of the conflict from ending a marriage, but it has not changed the need to deal properly with money. Treat the divorce and the finances as two parallel tasks, make sure any agreement is turned into a court approved order, give pensions the attention they deserve and think carefully about when to apply for the final order. Doing so is the surest way to make the end of a marriage genuinely final.
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