The Role Of The Family Court

A key point to understand is that any agreement you reach as to how your finances are to be divided will need to be approved by a judge and converted into a Consent Order if you wish to finalise each of your claims.

The Family Court continues to exercise a closely supervisory role when it comes to the financial arrangements between separating spouses. A judge will only approve a Consent Order where he/she considers it is fair having regard to your particular circumstances. Critically, the court’s power to make orders in relation to your finances only arises at all if you have also reached a certain stage in your divorce proceedings (‘Decree Nisi’ under the old rules, or ‘Conditional Order’ under the new No-Fault divorce rules).

This is worth bearing in mind at an early stage, given the time it takes to process the divorce. Many couples choose to start divorce proceedings, negotiate a financial settlement whist awaiting their Decree Nisi or Conditional Order, and then finalise the finances before returning to finish off the divorce afterwards.