How the split is decided
There is no formula. The starting point for a marriage of reasonable length is an equal division, but the court adjusts from there based on a list of factors set out in section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. In practice the ones that move the needle most are:
- the needs of any children under 18 — these come first, ahead of everything else
- what each of you needs to house yourselves
- income, earning capacity, and whether one of you gave up a career
- the length of the marriage, including time living together beforehand
- contributions each of you made, including looking after the home and children
A short marriage with no children and separate finances often ends close to where it started. A twenty-year marriage where one person raised the children and the other built a career rarely splits down the middle — it splits according to what each person needs going forward.
Whatever you agree has to be approved by a court to be binding.
An agreement written down between you, or a solicitor's letter confirming it, does not close off future claims. Only a consent order sealed by a judge does that.
Without one, your former spouse can bring a claim years later against assets you acquired after separating.
Disclosure comes first
Neither of you can negotiate sensibly, and no judge will approve anything, until you both know what there is. That means full and honest financial disclosure — usually on Form E, which covers property, bank accounts, investments, pensions, businesses, income, debts and outgoings.
It feels intrusive and it is the stage people most want to skip. Don't. An order obtained after one side hid assets can be set aside, and the person who hid them normally pays both sides' costs for the privilege.
The house
Usually the largest asset and the most emotionally loaded. The realistic options are:
- Sell and divide the proceeds. Clean, but check both of you can actually buy or rent afterwards before committing.
- One of you buys the other out. Depends entirely on whether the mortgage can be taken on by one income. Get a lender's view early rather than agreeing a figure and discovering it later.
- Defer the sale. One of you stays, often until the youngest child finishes school, and the proceeds are divided then. Common where there are children and not enough equity for two homes.
Whose name is on the deeds matters far less than people expect. A family home is treated as a family asset regardless of whose name is on it.
Pensions
Routinely the most valuable asset after the house, and routinely ignored — most often by the person who would benefit from raising it.
The cash transfer value on a statement is not a reliable guide to what a pension is worth in retirement income, particularly with a defined benefit or public sector scheme. Where the pensions are significant we instruct a pensions actuary, jointly, to report on what a fair split looks like. That costs money, and it is regularly the best money spent in the whole case.
The three routes are sharing (a percentage transferred into your own pension), offsetting (you take more of another asset instead), and attachment (now rare). Sharing is usually cleanest because it separates you financially.
Maintenance
For children, the Child Maintenance Service formula applies in most cases, based on the paying parent's income and how many nights the children stay. You can agree a figure between you, but either of you can go to the CMS later.
For a spouse, the court's preference is a clean break — a one-off division with no ongoing payments — wherever it can be achieved. Spousal maintenance is ordered where a clean break would leave one person unable to meet their needs, most often after a long marriage with a large income gap. It is usually for a fixed term.
How it gets resolved
Negotiation between solicitors
Most cases settle here
Disclosure is exchanged, proposals go back and forth, and an agreement is reached and turned into a consent order. Typically three to six months.
Mediation
Around £100–£200 per session, split between you
A neutral mediator helps you reach agreement directly. Cheaper and faster than anything else when it works. You still each need your own solicitor to advise on whether what you agreed is fair and to draft the order. A MIAM — an initial mediation assessment meeting — is a required step before most court applications anyway.
Court application
Last resort
Where the other side will not disclose, will not engage, or the gap is genuinely unbridgeable. Expect twelve months or more and materially higher costs. Most cases that start in court still settle before a final hearing.
What it costs
- First call30 minutes, by phone or video
- Free
- Consent order draftingWhere you have already agreed terms
- £750
- Negotiated settlementDisclosure, negotiation and the order. Written estimate first.
- £2,500–£6,000
- Court applicationCharged hourly, estimated in stages
- £240–£295/hr
- Court fee for a financial orderPayable to HMCTS, not to us. Correct at 13 July 2026.
- £62 / £321
All figures exclude VAT at 20%. The £62 fee applies to a consent order; £321 applies to a contested financial application. A jointly instructed pensions actuary typically costs £1,000–£2,500, shared between you. We give you a written estimate before starting and tell you promptly if it needs to change.
Common questions
We've already agreed everything. Do we still need solicitors?
You need a consent order, and one firm cannot act for both of you on finances. The usual approach is that one of us drafts the order and your former spouse takes independent advice on it. That keeps the cost low while making sure the order actually binds.
Is everything split 50/50?
Equality is the starting point, not the rule. The court departs from it where needs require, especially where children are involved or one of you has much lower earning capacity. Short marriages and assets one of you brought in are also treated differently.
What about an inheritance, or assets I had before we married?
These may be treated as non-matrimonial and ringfenced, but only if there is enough in the pot to meet both of your needs without them. Needs trump ringfencing. It also matters whether the money was kept separate or mixed into joint finances and the family home.
What if I think they're hiding assets?
Tell us early. There are proper routes — questionnaires, orders for specific disclosure, and in serious cases third-party disclosure. Courts take non-disclosure seriously and it usually rebounds on the person doing it through costs orders and set-aside applications. Do not go looking through their accounts or devices yourself; that creates problems for you rather than them.
How long does it take?
A consent order where you have already agreed can be sealed in six to ten weeks. A negotiated settlement is usually three to six months. A contested court application is twelve months or more. The court cannot approve a financial order until the conditional order in the divorce has been made.
Can we sort the money out before the divorce?
You can negotiate at any time, and the 20-week reflection period in the divorce process is the natural window for it. But the order cannot be approved until the conditional order stage, so the two run in parallel rather than one after the other.
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