UK Claims stay open, sometimes for decades
The point is illustrated by Wyatt v Vince, which reached the Supreme Court in 2015. The couple had separated in the 1980s with no financial order. Decades later, after the husband had built a substantial green energy business, the ex-wife brought a financial claim — and the court allowed it to proceed.
The lesson is not that old claims always succeed. It is that without a court order, there is no cut-off. Remarriage limits some claims, and delay weakens them, but nothing extinguishes them the way a properly drafted order does.
What a consent order actually is
In England and Wales, a consent order is your agreement written in the form the court can approve, submitted with a summary of both parties' finances. A judge checks it is broadly fair rather than rubber-stamping it, and can query terms that look plainly unreasonable.
GOV.UK sets out the procedure for applying for a consent order, including the financial disclosure form both parties must complete.
It can deal with property, lump sums, pension sharing, maintenance, and — importantly — dismiss future claims. It costs a court fee plus solicitor time for drafting, and it is one of the highest-value legal spends in a separation because of what it prevents.
It cannot normally be applied for until the conditional order stage of the divorce, so the timing runs alongside the process described in our England and Wales guide.
Clean break versus ongoing maintenance
A clean break ends all financial ties: no ongoing spousal maintenance, and no future claims against each other's income, capital, pensions or estate. Courts in England and Wales are directed to consider whether a clean break is appropriate, and for shorter marriages between two earning adults it usually is.
Where one person cannot meet their needs — often after a long marriage where one gave up work — ongoing maintenance may be ordered instead, sometimes for a defined term with a bar on extending it. A clean break on capital can be combined with continuing maintenance for a period.
Child maintenance is not affected either way. It is calculated separately under the statutory formula covered in our child maintenance guide.
How Scotland does it
In Scotland the usual vehicle is a Minute of Agreement, drawn up by solicitors and registered in the Books of Council and Session. Registration makes it enforceable without going back to court to prove the agreement.
Because Scots law starts from fair sharing of matrimonial property rather than broad discretion, agreements are often reached more predictably — but the same principle applies: write it down, have it drafted properly, and register it. An informal understanding is worth very little when someone changes their mind.
Scottish practice also favours the clean break strongly, with ongoing periodical allowance usually limited to a defined adjustment period.
Before you sign anything
Both parties should give full and frank disclosure of their finances. An order obtained on the back of hidden assets can be set aside later, so concealment tends to buy an expensive problem rather than an advantage.
Each of you should take your own advice. The same solicitor cannot act for both — and a solicitor who is asked to 'just write down what we've agreed' will still have to tell you if what you have agreed is a bad idea. That is the point of asking. Use our guide to choosing a solicitor if you have not instructed anyone yet, or search the directory of family law firms by your town.
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