How Much Does a Consent Order Cost in the UK?

The two costs of a Consent Order

Every Consent Order in England and Wales has two costs:

1. The court fee — a fixed £62 payable to HMCTS when you file the sealed draft order with Form D81. This is the same regardless of who drafts your order.
2. The drafting cost — the price of turning your agreement into a document a court will accept. This is where the variation is.

There is no separate court fee for D81 itself: the £62 covers the whole Consent Order application.

Drafting options and typical costs (2026)

Why the drafting price ranges so widely

The gap between £99 and £1,500 is not about legal reliability — a properly drafted Consent Order is a properly drafted Consent Order — but about what you are paying for on top of the drafting:

• Negotiation. A solicitor negotiating the settlement with the other side charges by the hour on top of the drafting cost. This is the biggest driver of the £1,000+ end of the range. If you have already reached agreement between yourselves, you are paying for a service you don't need.
• Bespoke drafting for edge cases. Very unusual assets (offshore trusts, complex company structures) do genuinely need a solicitor's judgement on how to draft the wording. This is rare in most household finances.
• Peace-of-mind sign-off. Some couples want a solicitor to review the draft even where the order itself is straightforward. This is a legitimate reason to pay more, but you can get the same reassurance from a drafting-only review (£150–£300) rather than paying for full drafting.

Hidden or extra costs to watch for

The core cost is the court fee plus drafting. A minority of cases add:

• Pension on Divorce Expert (PODE) report — £500 – £2,000. Only needed for complex defined-benefit (final-salary) pensions where valuation is contested.
• Mediation — £120 – £150 per hour per person. Optional route for reaching the underlying agreement before the Consent Order is drafted.
• Court queries. If a judge asks for changes, the drafting service that produced the order should update it. With DivorceCompanion this is included in the £99 (unlimited edits). With a solicitor this is often billed as additional time.
• Sending copies. If you need certified copies of the sealed order, HMCTS charges an additional per-copy fee.

The cheapest safe route

For a case where the finances are broadly agreed and there are no unusual assets, the cheapest total cost for a court-ready Consent Order in 2026 is:

• £99 — DivorceCompanion Consent Order Online (drafts every clause the court expects, AI Assisted Review, unlimited edits)
• + £62 — court fee
• = £161 total, court-ready

If you also need the D81 built for you, the Amicable Bundle (£149) includes both the D81 Builder and the Consent Order Online in one package.

How does this compare to fighting it out in court?

A Consent Order is what you use because you have agreement. If the finances are contested and there is no agreement, the alternative is a financial remedy application (Form A, £313 court fee, plus solicitor fees typically running into thousands of pounds). Reaching agreement first, then using a Consent Order, is almost always the cheapest route — the trap is thinking a written agreement without the Consent Order is enough. It isn't; without a sealed order, either party can bring financial claims for years afterwards.