Very few members of the public realise that when you obtain a final order you are not disassociated financially from your spouse. In fact your financial claims (such as transfer or sale of the family home, sharing pensions, and even claims to income) stay live unless they are dismissed under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1984 and the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. This is why it is vital that you obtain a financial consent order from the Family Court as part of the divorce process.

You can imagine the difficulties that arise when people get divorced but don’t obtain a financial consent order and then decide to do so two years later, in circumstances where for example one party has remained living in the family home paying the mortgage or one party has received a substantial inheritance.