Consent Order Template: What’s Actually Included?

Consent Order Template

If you have searched for a consent order template, you are probably trying to work out two things at once. What does a consent order look like, and how much of it can you draft yourself? This guide walks through every section that appears in a standard consent order template, what each clause means, and where the wording most often goes wrong. By the end you will know exactly what is included, what the court is looking for, and where it pays to get expert help.

A consent order is the document that turns a private financial agreement into a legally binding court order. Without it, an ex-spouse can come back years later and claim against your income, savings, pension, or property, even after a final divorce order. That is why the wording matters so much, and why the court reviews every order before sealing it.

What Is a Consent Order Template?

A consent order template is the skeleton of a financial order. It sets out the headings, the standard legal phrasing, and the order of clauses that the family court expects to see. Solicitors and barristers all work from broadly the same template, then fill in the details that match the couple’s situation.

If you are looking for a consent order example online, you will find that most look very similar at first glance. The structure is largely fixed because Practice Direction 5A and the Family Procedure Rules 2010 dictate the format. What changes from case to case is the figures, the property addresses, the pension details, and the specific undertakings each person agrees to.

It is helpful to think of a template as a starting point rather than a finished product. The risk with using a generic sample consent order is that the wording does not match your actual agreement, or it leaves out a clause that protects you. Courts can and do reject orders that are vague, unbalanced, or incorrectly drafted.

What Does a Consent Order Look Like? The Standard Structure

If you are wondering what does a consent order look like in practice, every standard consent order template follows the same eight-part structure. Below is each section explained, in the order it appears in the document.

1. The Heading

The first page identifies the court, the case number, the names of the applicant and respondent, and the date the order is being made. It also confirms the type of order, in this case a financial remedy order made by consent. The format is dictated by the Family Procedure Rules and uses prescribed wording that the court office expects to see.

2. The Recitals

Recitals are background statements that explain the context. They are not orders themselves, they are statements of fact and intention. A typical recital might confirm that the parties have exchanged financial disclosure, that they have considered the impact on any children, or that they intend the order to be a clean break.

Recitals matter because they show the court the agreement is informed and considered. If a judge later has to interpret the order, the recitals help explain why certain decisions were made.

3. The Undertakings

Undertakings are formal promises to the court. The court cannot order someone to do something outside its powers, so undertakings cover those gaps. Common examples include:

• Mortgage cooperation: a promise to use best endeavours to release one party from the joint mortgage.
• Life insurance: a promise to keep a policy in place to protect maintenance payments.
• Outgoings: a promise to continue paying certain household bills until completion of a property transfer.
• Tax: a promise to deal with capital gains tax or stamp duty arising from the order.

Breaking an undertaking is treated as contempt of court, so the wording needs to be precise and realistic.

4. The Operative Orders

This is the heart of the document, the part the court actually orders. The consent order wording here has to be specific enough to be enforceable. Vague clauses like “the parties will share the equity fairly” will not pass. The order needs exact figures, addresses, dates, and mechanisms.

Typical operative orders include lump sum payments, property transfers, sales of property with division of net proceeds, pension sharing or pension attachment, periodical payments (spousal maintenance), and dismissal of all other financial claims.

5. Pension Provisions

If pensions are being shared, the order needs a Pension Sharing Annex (Form P1) attached to it. The annex contains the pension scheme name, the member’s details, and the percentage being transferred. Without the annex correctly completed, the pension provider will refuse to implement the order.

For more detail on how pensions are valued and divided, see our guide to pensions on divorce.

6. The Clean Break Clause

A clean break dismisses all future financial claims between the parties. It means neither person can come back later and claim against the other’s income, capital, pension, or estate on death. This is one of the most important parts of any consent order template and yet it is often the weakest section in DIY drafts.

A proper clean break dismisses claims under sections 23, 24, 24A, 24B and 25B-25D of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, plus claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. If any of those statutory references are missing, the dismissal may not be complete.

7. Costs and Liberty to Apply

Most consent orders include “no order as to costs”, meaning each party pays their own legal fees. There is also usually a “liberty to apply” clause, allowing either party to return to court only for the limited purpose of implementing the order, for example if one party refuses to sign property transfer documents.

8. Signatures and Statement of Information

Both parties sign the order to confirm consent. Alongside the order, you must file a Form D81 Statement of Information, which gives the court a snapshot of both parties’ finances. The court will not approve the order without it.

Where Free Consent Order Templates Tend to Fall Short

There are plenty of free downloadable templates online. Some are decent starting points, others are years out of date. The risk is not that you cannot find the right shape of document, the risk is in the specific wording. Below are the issues we see most often when reviewing DIY drafts.

Outdated Statutory References

Family law has moved on, particularly with the introduction of no-fault divorce in 2022. Older templates may reference the wrong divorce procedure or use outdated terminology. The court will not seal an order that misstates the law.

Vague Property Wording

A common mistake is wording like “the property will be sold and the proceeds split equally”. Equally of what? Net of what costs? What if one party pays the mortgage in the meantime? Good drafting deals with the order of deductions, who instructs the agent, what happens if the price needs reducing, and what date the sale must complete by.

Missing Pension Annex

If pensions are being shared, the Form P1 annex is mandatory. Some templates mention the pension share in the body of the order but forget the annex altogether, which means the share never gets implemented.

Incomplete Clean Break

As mentioned earlier, a complete clean break dismisses several categories of claim. Templates that only mention “dismissal of capital claims” leave the door open for income claims years later. Spousal maintenance claims survive divorce, they only end when they are formally dismissed.

No Form D81

Many DIY couples submit the consent order without the accompanying Form D81, then receive a rejection letter from the court asking for it. This is one of the most frequent reasons applications get bounced back, adding weeks to the process.

What the Court Looks For When Reviewing a Consent Order

The court is not a rubber stamp. A judge reviews every consent order against the section 25 factors of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the same factors used in contested cases. The judge is checking that the order is broadly fair, that both parties understand it, and that any children’s needs have been considered.

In practice, the court will look at the Form D81, compare the assets and incomes against the proposed split, and decide if the outcome falls within the range of orders a court would reasonably make. If it does, the order is sealed. If something looks off, the court will write back asking questions.

For more detail on how the court weighs each factor, see our explainer on section 25 marital factors.

When a Template Is Not Enough

A simple consent order template can work where finances are straightforward, both parties are on the same page, and the agreement is genuinely fair. Cases that almost always need bespoke drafting include:

• Pension sharing: where one or both parties have significant pension assets being divided.
• Business assets: where one party owns or part-owns a company.
• Trust property: where assets are held in trust or jointly with third parties.
• Mesher and Martin orders: deferred sale arrangements where the home stays in joint names for a set period.
• Ongoing maintenance: where spousal maintenance continues for a defined period before clean break.
• International elements: where assets, pensions, or one of the parties is outside the UK.

For most couples, the strongest path is to agree the financial split through financial settlement mediation first, then have the agreement converted into a properly drafted consent order. That way you keep control of the outcome and only pay for legal drafting once the substance is settled.

Frequently Asked Questions