How it works
Two tracks, one hard gate
The divorce runs on a clock set by law that you can't speed up. The financial order has no clock, but it can't be filed until the conditional order is granted. Start the finances early and they fit inside the wait.
Fixed minimums
- Apply online, pay £690Day 0
- Confirm you want to continueWeek 20
- Conditional order granted (agreement in principle; still married)+2 to 6 weeks
- Earliest final order (the one that ends the marriage)+6 weeks 1 day
- Realistic total7 to 9 months
You set the pace
- Request pension valuesDay 0
- Build the picture, agree the splitWeeks 1 to 16
- Consent order (the deal in court wording) and D81 (finances summary) signedBefore week 20
- Hard gate: file once conditional order lands£62
- Judge reviews on paper4 to 8 weeks
Worked example
Starting Monday 12 January
Both tracks together, month by month, so you can see what you're doing and when. Realistic for a straightforward case.
January · start both clocks
File the divorce application
One of you, or both jointly, applies on GOV.UK and pays £690. The 20 week clock starts when the court issues it.
Apply for a divorce on GOV.UKAsk every pension scheme for a cash equivalent value
The slowest item in the whole process. Public-sector schemes often take the full 12 weeks. Ask first.
Court issues the application (on a sole application, the other person is sent it and acknowledges)
Nothing else happens on the divorce side for months.
February and March · gather the numbers
Value the house
Two or three estate agent appraisals is enough. No surveyor needed for a consent order.
Build your financial picture on Agreeable
Mortgage balance, savings, ISAs, debts, three months of payslips. Both of you see the same picture.
Pension values arrive
Enter them. The fairness check updates and tells you if the pension gap needs addressing.
April · agree the deal
Settle the split
Who keeps the house or whether it sells, how the pension is shared, any lump sum, whether anyone pays maintenance. Try options and watch the fairness check.
Consent order and D81 drafted
Drafted from your answers. You read them in plain English alongside the court wording, query anything, and both sign. They now wait.
May and June · the divorce catches up
Confirm you want to continue
Twenty weeks since the court issued it in mid January. The clock runs from issue, not from the day you applied. You log back in to the GOV.UK service and confirm you want to carry on. No form, no fee, no reason needed. Put the date in both your calendars on day one so it doesn't slip.
Log in and confirm you want to continueConditional order granted
The court's agreement in principle to the divorce, the old decree nisi. You're still married. Typically two to six weeks after you confirm, depending on the court.
File the consent order, D81 and the court fee
£62 to the court. This is the earliest the court will accept it. Having it signed and ready is why April matters.
Apply for a consent order on GOV.UKJuly and August · the judge reads it
A judge reviews the paperwork
No hearing, no attendance. Typically four to eight weeks. If the judge has a question, it adds three to four weeks.
You could apply for the final order. Don't yet.
Six weeks and a day have passed since the conditional order. Wait for the sealed consent order first.
Consent order approved and sealed
The judge approves and stamps it. The money deal is agreed and approved; it takes effect, and the clean break starts, when the final order is made.
August · finish
Apply for the final order
You log back in and apply; it is not automatic. The final order, the old decree absolute, is the one that actually ends the marriage. Granted within a day or two and emailed to you. You're divorced, around seven months after starting, with everything settled.
Log in and apply for the final orderThe one rule: finances first, final order last
Nothing stops you taking the final order the moment six weeks have passed. Plenty of people do, because they want it done. Resist it. Between final order and sealed consent order you're no longer spouses, so if either of you died the survivor would lose pension death benefits and the deal wouldn't yet be binding. Agreeable won't prompt you to apply for the final order until the consent order is sealed.
When things actually happen
Nothing in the order moves until the final order
The judge can approve the consent order at the conditional-order stage, but every transfer in it is on or after the final order, and the order says how long after. This is the usual timing.
Pension sharing order
When it happens
Takes effect on the later of the final order and 28 days after the consent order. The scheme then has four months to implement; most take two to three.
Worth knowing
The recipient gets the stated percentage of the value on implementation day, not the D81 figure. It lands in a pension in their name, never as cash. Schemes may charge an implementation fee (£0 to £2,000); the order says who pays.
Buy-out of the home (transfer plus lump sum)
When it happens
Deadline set in the order, typically within 28 or 56 days of the final order, with title transfer and payment on the same day.
Worth knowing
Orders often tie it to the remortgage: "within 56 days of the final order or on completion of the remortgage, whichever is sooner", with a long-stop date after which the house is sold instead. Both of you stay on the mortgage until the title moves.
Sale of the home
When it happens
Marketing can start any time. Completion and division of proceeds after the final order.
Worth knowing
Agree the agent, the asking price and the minimum acceptable in writing. Proceeds split in the order's percentages after mortgage, agent and legal fees.
Deferred sale (Mesher)
When it happens
Nothing until the trigger: youngest turning 18 or leaving secondary school, remarriage or 6 months living with a new partner, death, or a voluntary sale.
Worth knowing
Write every trigger down, and who pays the mortgage, insurance and repairs meanwhile.
Lump sum from savings
When it happens
By the date the order names, often within 28 or 56 days of the final order.
Worth knowing
If one of you is relying on it to rehouse, line the dates up with the tenancy or purchase.
Spousal maintenance
When it happens
From the first payment date after the final order, as the order states.
Worth knowing
Child maintenance is separate and starts whenever you agree it.
Clean break
When it happens
On the final order.
Worth knowing
From that day neither of you can bring a new money claim against the other. Child maintenance is never part of it.
| What the order says | When it happens | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Pension sharing order | Takes effect on the later of the final order and 28 days after the consent order. The scheme then has four months to implement; most take two to three. | The recipient gets the stated percentage of the value on implementation day, not the D81 figure. It lands in a pension in their name, never as cash. Schemes may charge an implementation fee (£0 to £2,000); the order says who pays. |
| Buy-out of the home (transfer plus lump sum) | Deadline set in the order, typically within 28 or 56 days of the final order, with title transfer and payment on the same day. | Orders often tie it to the remortgage: "within 56 days of the final order or on completion of the remortgage, whichever is sooner", with a long-stop date after which the house is sold instead. Both of you stay on the mortgage until the title moves. |
| Sale of the home | Marketing can start any time. Completion and division of proceeds after the final order. | Agree the agent, the asking price and the minimum acceptable in writing. Proceeds split in the order's percentages after mortgage, agent and legal fees. |
| Deferred sale (Mesher) | Nothing until the trigger: youngest turning 18 or leaving secondary school, remarriage or 6 months living with a new partner, death, or a voluntary sale. | Write every trigger down, and who pays the mortgage, insurance and repairs meanwhile. |
| Lump sum from savings | By the date the order names, often within 28 or 56 days of the final order. | If one of you is relying on it to rehouse, line the dates up with the tenancy or purchase. |
| Spousal maintenance | From the first payment date after the final order, as the order states. | Child maintenance is separate and starts whenever you agree it. |
| Clean break | On the final order. | From that day neither of you can bring a new money claim against the other. Child maintenance is never part of it. |
If someone doesn't do their bit: it's a court order. You apply to the same court to enforce it, and a judge can sign the transfer in place of the person refusing, or order a sale. Rare between couples who agreed, but the default clauses are what make the order enforceable rather than an argument.
What moves the dates
Three things that add time
Slow pension values
Pushes the agreement back but not the divorce dates, because you've got until week 20 anyway. Ask on day one.
Court backlog
Can add a month to the conditional order or to the judge's review. Varies by regional centre. Nothing you can do about it.
Starting the money late
If you only start talking about finances after the conditional order, add the judge's review (typically 4 to 8 weeks) after the conditional order, because now the finances are what's holding up the final order.