Divorce and your finances: what you need to know

Getting divorced does not automatically resolve your finances. These are two separate legal processes, and dealing with the money is known as financial remedy proceedings.

When you separate, each of you holds a financial claim against the other, and that claim stays alive until a court dismisses it. Most couples share some assets, the family home being the obvious one, but even where everything is held separately, marriage creates claims against each other that remain until a family judge formally ends them.

Any financial agreement you reach needs a judge’s approval to become legally binding, turned into what’s called a Consent Order. The court can only make that order once your divorce reaches a certain stage — the Conditional Order. Many couples start their divorce, negotiate their financial settlement during the 20-week wait for the Conditional Order, then finalise both together.

A common misconception is that divorce splits everything 50/50. That is very rare. English and Welsh law is deliberately flexible, built around each family’s specific circumstances rather than a fixed formula, unlike some other jurisdictions.

That flexibility is exactly why expert legal advice matters here. Here at The Divorce Surgery, one barrister advises you both together on how a court would view your situation, drawing on experience across financial remedy cases of every size, so you can use that advice to move your settlement discussions forward.

You should always take specialist and up-to-date tax advice if you have significant assets to divide, to ensure you structure any financial settlement and timetable any transfers of assets tax-efficiently. And if you’re planning to remarry, sort your finances first, as remarriage can significantly limit your ability to make financial claims from your previous marriage.