You can work out an agreement with your partner to avoid going to court.

Use the divorce and separation calculator to work out your finances and what you own.

Once you’ve reached an agreement, you can get the court to make it legally binding, by applying for a ‘consent order’.

If you can’t agree

You can ask the court to decide using a ‘financial order’ if you can’t agree.

You’ll usually need to consider mediation before you go to court.

Get legal advice

Find a solicitor if you’d like legal advice.

You must usually meet with a mediator before you can go to court.

Mediation is when an independent and impartial third party discusses a problem with you and your ex-partner to try and find a solution.

You may be able to get legal aid for mediation. Find your local mediator by searching using your postcode.

You need to fill in a ‘Family Mediation Information and Assessment form’ to show that you’ve considered mediation. Your mediator or legal adviser may be able to help you fill out the form, or you can do it yourself.

Download 'Family Mediation Information and Assessment form' (PDF, 228KB)

You need to get a solicitor to draft a ‘consent order’ if you want to make an agreement legally binding.

This is a legal document that confirms your agreement, and can include details on how you are going to divide up your assets, including:

• money
• property
• savings
• investments

It can also include arrangements for maintenance payments, including child maintenance.

You and your ex-partner both have to sign the draft consent order.

Both of you also need to fill in:

• a notice of an application for a financial order
• a statement of information form

Send these forms to the court with the draft consent order attached. Keep your own copies.

A consent order costs £45.

You may be able to get help with court fees if you're on benefits or a low income.

A judge will approve the agreement to make it legally binding if they think it’s fair and reasonable.

You can ask a court to make a ‘financial order’ if you can’t reach an agreement. This used to be called an ‘ancillary relief order’.

You can apply for a financial order if you want, for example:

• a lump sum payment
• ownership of a property
• regular maintenance payments to help with children or living expenses
• a share of your partner’s pension payments

Applying for a financial order costs £255.

The process is separate from the divorce, and usually takes longer - often 6 to 12 months.

You may have to attend a court appointment and go to a number of court hearings.

To apply for a financial order, fill in a financial order application form.

Send 2 copies of the form to the court dealing with your case. Keep your own copies. You may have to visit the court, so try to find a court that's easy to get to.

Mediation

You’ll usually need to prove that you’ve considered mediation when you apply for a financial order.

You can do this by filling in a Family Mediation Information and Assessment form.

The judge will decide on the division of assets based on how long you’ve been married or in a civil partnership, as well as your:

• ages
• ability to earn
• property and money
• living expenses
• standard of living
• role in the marriage or civil partnership (eg if you were the breadwinner or primary carer)

The judge will decide on the fairest way to divide the assets if there are enough assets to meet everyone's needs.

The judge will make arrangements for any children first - especially their housing arrangements and child maintenance - if there isn’t enough.

The judge will usually try to arrange a 'clean break', so everything is shared out, and you no longer have any financial ties to one another.

The court sometimes tells the person with the higher income to make regular maintenance payments to help with the other person’s living costs.

This is called a ‘maintenance order’.

A maintenance payment can be set for:

• a limited period of time
• until one of you dies, marries or enters into a new civil partnership

The payment can also be changed if one of you loses your job or gets much better paid work.

The court can also decide on child maintenance, but this is often arranged by the Child Support Agency.