Is it legal to file a Consent Order without a solicitor?
Yes. The Family Procedure Rules in England and Wales do not require legal representation for financial Consent Orders. When you file the sealed draft order with Form D81 and the £62 court fee, HMCTS accepts it whether it was drafted by a solicitor or by you. The judge reviews the substance of the order, not who signed the accompanying letter.
⚠ "You don't need a solicitor" is not the same as "you don't need drafting"
The most common reason Consent Orders are queried or rejected is not who wrote them, but how they are drafted — missing clauses, inconsistent wording, clean-break declarations that contradict ongoing maintenance, pension paragraphs without a scheme reference. A guided drafting tool avoids these; a blank template does not.
When DIY is the right call
Preparing a Consent Order yourself is a low-risk option when all of the following are true:
- You and your ex have reached agreement on the financial settlement
- Assets are broadly in your two names — no offshore trusts, no complex company structures, no non-UK pensions
- Pensions are defined-contribution (workplace or personal pensions with a stated pot value) or simple defined-benefit — no complex final-salary schemes needing a PODE valuation
- Neither party is under pressure or clearly disadvantaged in the negotiation
- You are both willing to disclose your finances honestly on Form D81
Under these conditions, drafting and filing the Consent Order yourself using a guided tool is very likely to produce a court-ready order at a fraction of the solicitor cost.
When to still use a solicitor
A solicitor's involvement adds real value where the underlying facts are complicated. Consider one-off advice (not full instruction) when any of the following apply:
- Complex or high-value pensions. Defined-benefit (final-salary) schemes where a Pension on Divorce Expert (PODE) report is likely — the drafting of pension sharing wording needs to line up with the actuarial calculation.
- Business interests, shareholdings or trusts. Ownership structures that a template cannot capture cleanly.
- Cross-border assets or overseas pensions. Foreign assets bring jurisdictional questions the standard clauses don't cover.
- Significant power imbalance. One party has controlled the finances throughout the marriage and the other is unsure what is being agreed.
- Suspected undisclosed assets. If you don't trust that Form D81 is complete, a solicitor can pursue disclosure formally before the order is drafted.
- Contested elements. If parts of the settlement are still being negotiated, you are not yet at Consent Order stage — you are at the settlement stage.
Even in these cases, the sensible pattern is usually: draft the order yourself, then pay a solicitor a fixed fee to review the draft (typically £150–£300). This is far cheaper than paying a solicitor to draft from scratch.
How to get a Consent Order without a solicitor: the process
Wait for the Conditional Order
You cannot apply for a Consent Order until the Conditional Order (formerly Decree Nisi) has been granted in your divorce. Applying earlier means it will be rejected on that ground alone.
Reach and record the financial agreement
Between you, agree what happens to the property, pensions, savings, debts and any maintenance. Write down the specifics — percentages, amounts, dates — because these will feed into the order's clauses.
Draft the Consent Order using a guided tool
Use a tool that generates legally worded clauses from your answers rather than a blank template. DivorceCompanion's Consent Order Online asks plain-English questions and writes the corresponding paragraphs — property, pensions, lump sums, maintenance, clean break — in the wording courts expect.
Run a court-readiness review
Before filing, check for the issues judges most commonly flag: internal inconsistency, missing information, contradictory clauses. The AI Assisted Review inside DivorceCompanion runs this automatically and lists what a judge would query.
Both parties sign the draft order
Both parties sign the same draft Consent Order. You do not need a solicitor to witness the signatures. Independent legal advice on the final draft is a sensible check for anything unusual, but is not mandatory.
Complete Form D81 and file with the £62 court fee
Both parties complete Form D81 (Statement of Information) with the financial position at the date of the order. File the signed Consent Order, the D81 and £62 with the court handling your divorce.
Wait for the judge to seal the order
In straightforward cases the judge reviews the papers without a hearing. Timescales vary by court but 4–12 weeks is typical. If the judge queries anything, you update the order and re-file — DivorceCompanion allows unlimited edits at no extra cost.
What courts typically query in a self-drafted order
Judges are not looking for solicitor-style language, they are looking for internal consistency and completeness. The most common issues that trigger a query:
| Issue | Why judges flag it |
|---|---|
| Clean-break declaration alongside ongoing spousal maintenance | Internally contradictory — a clean break severs future income claims, ongoing maintenance is a future income claim. |
| Pension sharing without a scheme name or member reference | The order cannot be implemented against the pension scheme without identifying it. |
| Property clause without percentages, timing or mortgage responsibility | Ambiguity about who owes what and when — the court needs the mechanics. |
| Consent Order and D81 giving different figures | The judge assesses fairness from the D81, so mismatched numbers raise a red flag. |
| Conditional Order date missing or wrong | The order cannot legally take effect before the Conditional Order was granted. |
| Costs paragraph missing | Courts expect an express costs provision (usually "no order as to costs"). |
Draft your own Consent Order — no solicitor required
DivorceCompanion Consent Order Online generates the legally worded clauses courts expect, from your plain-English answers. Includes an AI Assisted Review before you download.
- ✓ £99 one-off, unlimited edits
- ✓ AI Assisted Review flags what a judge would query
- ✓ Court-ready Word document to sign and file
- ✓ 30-day money-back guarantee