Divorce: Who Gets What? Money, Property and Pensions — and What a Financial Order Is (England & Wales)

Key points

• There is no fixed formula; children under 18 are the court's first consideration.
• The sharing principle usually starts with equal division of property built up during the marriage, then needs and the statutory factors are considered.
• Both parties must give full and honest financial disclosure, regardless of whose name an asset is in.
• A pension share requires a court order; attachment and negotiated offsetting are different mechanisms.
• A private agreement is not enforceable until a judge approves a consent order.
• Without an order, financial claims can remain open for years; remarriage can bar the remarried party's own claim.
• If agreement fails, the court route ordinarily involves a MIAM, Form A, Form E, a first appointment, FDR and, if necessary, a final hearing.
• The court must consider a clean break, but maintenance may still be ordered where appropriate.

Is our agreement binding?

A private agreement cannot be enforced as a court order. A judge-approved consent order makes agreed terms binding and can close future claims. Without an order, claims may remain available long after the divorce, subject to the statutory remarriage bar.

Sources: S5, S7, S17

What property and money count?

Both parties disclose income, property, savings, investments, businesses, debts and pensions. The sharing principle applies to matrimonial property built up during the marriage, usually from an equal starting point. Pre-marital, inherited or gifted property may remain non-matrimonial, although needs can still require it to be used.

Sources: S1, S6, S10

What does the judge consider?

The court first considers the welfare of any child of the family under 18, then all the circumstances, including resources, needs, the marital standard of living, ages, the length of the marriage, disability, contributions, exceptional conduct and benefits lost through divorce.

Sources: S1

What happens to pensions?

A pension sharing order transfers a percentage into a pension in the other party's name and takes effect only with the final divorce order; the scheme then has an implementation period. Pension attachment pays part of a pension or lump sum when it becomes payable. Offsetting exchanges pension value for other assets and requires careful valuation.

Sources: S3, S4, S12, S13, S14

How does the court process work?

Unless exempt, an applicant ordinarily attends a mediation information and assessment meeting, files Form A and pays the current court fee. The standard process then involves full Form E disclosure, a first appointment, a financial dispute resolution hearing and a final hearing only if agreement is not reached.

Sources: S7, S10, S11

What about maintenance and a clean break?

The court must consider whether financial obligations can end as soon as is just and reasonable. Spousal maintenance can be ordered for a limited period and varied. Child maintenance is dealt with separately, often through the Child Maintenance Service.

Sources: S2, S15

When should I finalise the divorce?

Government guidance says to apply for a legally binding financial arrangement before applying for the final divorce order. A pension sharing order cannot take effect until the divorce is final, so sequencing and drafted terms matter.

Sources: S3, S7, S9

Can I get legal aid?

Legal aid for the financial proceedings is generally limited to cases supported by qualifying domestic-abuse evidence. Family mediation remains a separate category within scope, subject to eligibility rules.

Sources: S16

Your next steps

1. Do not apply for the final divorce order yet and do not remarry before making your own claim.
2. Gather bank, mortgage, debt, property and pension information for full disclosure.
3. Try to agree, using mediation where suitable, but have any agreement drafted as a consent order.
4. If agreement is not possible, obtain advice about Form A, Form E and the financial-remedy timetable.
5. Obtain pension valuations and specialist advice before agreeing to sharing, attachment or offsetting.

Sources and review

England and Wales only. Official sources were checked on 6 September 2026; court-fee figures are from the official EX50 version updated 13 July 2026.

• S1. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25 — what the court must consider (children first; the eight factors)

  Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25(1)–(2). Current legislation checked 6 September 2026.
  Children as the first consideration and the statutory financial factors.

• S2. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25A — the clean break

  Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25A. Current legislation checked 6 September 2026.
  The court's duty to consider a clean break.

• S3. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 24B — pension sharing orders

  Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 24B. Current legislation checked 6 September 2026.
  Pension sharing orders and their relationship to the final divorce order.

• S4. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25B — pension attachment orders

  Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25B. Current legislation checked 6 September 2026.
  Pension attachment orders and the benefits that may be attached.

• S5. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 28 — remarriage bars a claim

  Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 28(3). Current legislation checked 6 September 2026.
  The remarriage bar for a party's later financial provision or property adjustment application.

• S6. Supreme Court press summary — Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26 (matrimonial and non-matrimonial property)

  Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26, Supreme Court press summary. Judgment 2 July 2025; checked 6 September 2026.
  The sharing principle, matrimonial and non-matrimonial property, matrimonialisation and needs.

• S7. GOV.UK — Money and property when you divorce or separate (consent orders, financial orders, mediation)

  Money and property when a relationship ends. GOV.UK guidance checked 6 September 2026.
  Consent orders, financial orders, enforceability, mediation and maintenance.

• S8. GOV.UK — Family court fees (EX50): consent order £62, financial order £321

  Family court fees EX50. Updated 13 July 2026; checked 6 September 2026.
  The published £62 consent-order and £321 financial-order application fees.

• S9. GOV.UK — Get a divorce: finalise your divorce (apply about money before the final order)

  Finalise your divorce. GOV.UK guidance checked 6 September 2026.
  Applying for a binding money arrangement before applying for the final divorce order.

• S10. Family Procedure Rules 2010, Part 9 — the financial remedy procedure

  Family Procedure Rules 2010, Part 9, rules 9.12, 9.14, 9.17 and 9.28. Current rules checked 6 September 2026.
  The first appointment, Form E timing, FDR and final-hearing stages.

• S11. Children and Families Act 2014, section 10 — the mediation meeting (MIAM) requirement

  Children and Families Act 2014, section 10. Current legislation checked 6 September 2026.
  The family-mediation information and assessment meeting requirement and exemptions framework.

• S12. Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, section 34 — four-month implementation of a pension share

  Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, section 34. Current legislation checked 6 September 2026.
  The four-month implementation period for pension sharing.

• S13. DWP form BR20NSP — State Pensions and divorce or dissolution

  DWP form BR20NSP. December 2025 edition checked 6 September 2026.
  Which State Pension components may be shared and the route to obtain pension information.

• S14. Pension Advisory Group — A Guide to the Treatment of Pensions on Divorce (second edition, 2024)

  Pension Advisory Group, second edition (2024). Guide checked in full 6 September 2026.
  Pension sharing, attachment, offsetting and valuation practice.

• S15. GOV.UK — Maintenance payments after divorce

  GOV.UK maintenance-payments guidance. Official guidance checked 6 September 2026.
  Spousal maintenance duration and variation, and the separate child-maintenance route.

• S16. Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, Schedule 1 (paragraphs 12 and 14)

  LASPO 2012, Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraphs 12 and 14. Current legislation checked 6 September 2026.
  Legal aid scope for family financial proceedings involving domestic abuse and for family mediation.

• S17. Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14 — financial claim many years after divorce

  Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14. Supreme Court decision; holding checked 6 September 2026.
  A financial claim may be brought many years after divorce where no final financial order closed it.

Full transcript

You are getting divorced, and you want to know who gets what. The house, the savings, the pensions. This is England and Wales. The short answer, there is no fixed formula. The court puts the children first, then divides what you built up together, usually equally, and adjusts for needs.

And nothing you agree is binding until a judge approves it. Start with the thing most people get wrong. A deal at the kitchen table is not binding, however sincere. Only a court order closes the claims. Without one, either of you can come back years later, even after the divorce is final.

The one thing that ends your own claim is remarrying before you make it. Everything counts whoever's name it is in the home, savings, investments, a business, debts, and pensions, which are often the biggest asset after the house. Both of you must disclose the lot honestly on the court's financial statement.

Here is the dividing line. What you built up during the marriage is shared, and the starting point is equal. What you brought in, inherited, or were given is usually not shared, unless over the years you both treated it as yours together. But needs come first.

If the shared pot cannot house and support you both, the court can reach into the rest. The law gives the judge a checklist each of your incomes and what you could earn, what each of you needs, the standard of living during the marriage, your ages and how long you were married, any disability, what each of you contributed, and running the home and raising the children counts as much as earning, and conduct, but only where it would be unfair to

ignore it. We hear this on the hotline every week. It's in my name, so it's mine. In England and Wales, that is not how it works. Whose name is on the deeds or the account matters far less than what the marriage built. There are two ways to make it official. If you agree, a solicitor drafts a consent order you both sign and a judge approves it if it is fair.

The court fee is sixty two pounds and there is usually no hearing. If you cannot agree, you apply for a financial order and the court decides. The fee for that is three hundred and twenty one pounds, and it means hearings. Pensions are the asset people give away by accident.

There are three ways to deal with them. A pension sharing order moves a percentage of one pension into a pension of your own. Attachment pays you a slice when the other person's pension pays out. Offsetting means you keep your pension, and they keep more of something else.

Only a court order can split a pension, and it takes effect once the divorce is final. The State Pension is different. The new State Pension itself cannot be shared. What can be shared is any protected payment on top of it, or under the old system, the additional State Pension.

Ask the Pension Service for a valuation the form is on the government website. If you cannot agree, the court route runs like this: Step one: a mediation meeting first, unless you are exempt, for example where there has been domestic abuse. Step two: You apply on Form A, and you both complete the court's financial statement, with a year of bank statements and your pension figures.

Step three: A first appointment, about three to four months after you apply. Step four: a negotiation hearing where a judge gives a view and a final hearing only if you still cannot agree. Expect months between each stage. Maintenance is separate from the split.

The court can order one of you to pay the other for a period, and the law says it must look for a clean break as soon as that is fair. Child maintenance is different again. It is usually worked out by the child maintenance service, not the divorce court. Now the timing trap.

A financial order only takes effect once the divorce is final, so sort the money first. If you apply for the final order before the finances are settled, you can lose rights, including a share of your former spouse's pension if they die. The government's own guidance says apply to the court about money before you apply for the final order.

What to do now: one. Do not apply for the final order yet two. Do not remarry before you have made your claim three. Gather a year of bank statements, plus mortgage and pension figures four. Try to agree, with mediation if it helps. Five. Get the deal drawn up as a consent order and approved, or if you cannot agree, apply for a financial order.

Legal aid is rarely available for the money side unless there has been domestic abuse, so most people pay for advice. The Legal Hotline gives free legal information twenty four hours a day, and can arrange a one hour consultation with a UK solicitor for one hundred and forty five pounds The number is on your screen now.

Author, review and corrections

Drafted from the listed official sources by Claude and editorially approved for publication by James Stevens, an admitted Australian solicitor. The video uses an ElevenLabs synthetic British voice, AI-generated illustrative imagery and AI-generated background music. No real people, courts, events or documents are depicted.

James Stevens — Admitted solicitor (Australia). Reviewed 6 September 2026. Editorially reviewed for publication. This England and Wales answer relies on the primary legislation, the Supreme Court's own case summaries and official guidance listed below; Scotland and Northern Ireland divide finances under different law and are covered separately.

Answer reference: lh-uk-002-ew. Next substantive review due: 2027-03-05; earlier if law, procedure, service details or a credible error report changes the answer.

Report an error or outdated information to admin@platfirm.ai, identifying this page. Do not send confidential case details.

Legal Hotline provides free general legal information using AI, 24/7. It is not a law firm and this information does not create a solicitor-client relationship. A separate £145 one-hour consultation with a UK solicitor can be arranged. UK information line: 07476 557650.

This is general information, not advice about your case. Contact emergency services if someone is in immediate danger.