Clean Break Order: Clean Break Financial Orders Explained
Finalising a divorce ends your marriage legally, but it does not automatically sever the financial ties between you and your former spouse. Without a formal legal agreement in place, either party can make financial claims against the other’s future or current financial assets.
Securing complete financial independence requires a court-approved agreement known as a clean break order. In this guide, the specialist family law solicitors at Richard Nelson LLP break down everything you need to know about financial protection after a divorce.
Interested in a particular section? Use the links below to navigate straight to it:
- What is the difference between a clean break divorce & clean break order?
- What is a clean break divorce?
- What is a clean break order?
- What is covered in a clean break order?
- What isn’t covered by a clean break order?
- What are the types of clean break orders?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of a clean break order?
- Advantages of clean break orders
- Disadvantages of clean break orders
- How to apply for a clean break order?
- What happens if your ex won’t sign a clean break order?
- How long does a clean break order take?
- How we can help
What is the difference between a clean break divorce & clean break order?
While the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a distinct legal difference between a clean break divorce and a clean break order. Understanding this distinction is crucial to ensuring your long-term financial security.
For legal advice and support, reach out to our financial settlement solicitors.
What is a clean break divorce?
A clean break divorce describes the overall outcome of a divorce process, where both parties agree to end their marriage and split their assets without any ongoing financial obligations to one another. However, simply completing the final stage of the divorce process doesn’t legally sever your financial ties.
What is a clean break order?
A clean break order, also known as a clean break financial order, is a legally binding court order. It formally dismisses both parties’ rights to make any future financial claims against each other’s income, savings, pensions, property, or future inheritances. By severing financial ties permanently, a clean break order provides both parties with immediate clarity and financial independence.
Overall, a clean break divorce represents the intended financial outcome of a separation, whereas a clean break financial order is the formal legal instrument required to achieve and protect that status.
<h2id=”what-is-covered”>What is covered in a clean break order?
- Income & Spousal Maintenance: Fully dismisses present and future claims for ongoing financial support between former spouses.
- Property & Capital Assets: Settles the division of all existing assets, such as the shared home, investment properties and savings.
- Pensions: Addresses pension sharing and severs any future claim on your former partner’s pension provisions or death benefits.
- Future Inheritances & Lump Sums: Protects any future wealth you may acquire, such as family inheritances.
What isn’t covered by a clean break order?
- Child maintenance: Applies strictly to financial arrangements between former spouses. It does not extinguish or replace ongoing statutory child maintenance obligations.
What are the types of clean break orders?
A clean break financial order is designed to instantly sever financial ties between divorcing spouses. However, the court recognises that every couple’s financial situation is unique, so clean break orders generally fall into distinct structures depending on whether immediate independence is possible or if ongoing support is needed.
| Type of clean break order | What is it | How it works | When it is used |
| Immediate clean break order | Permanently terminates all financial obligations between both parties, from the moment the court approves the order. | Neither party pays ongoing spousal maintenance, and there are no claims against each other's future finances. | This type of order is typically suitable for shorter marriages, couples with similar earning capacities or if parties have no substantial assets and want to ensure neither party can make any future claims. |
| Deferred clean break order | Provides financial support for a fixed transition period before the clean break takes effect. | One party agrees to pay spousal maintenance to the other for a specified length of time. | One party would face financial hardship, but full financial independence is realistic for both parties in the near future. |
Determining which clean break structure is right for your circumstances requires expert financial advice. Our specialist family law solicitors can help you through this process.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a clean break order?
Here are the advantages and disadvantages of securing a financial clean break order:
Advantages of clean break orders
- Complete financial certainty: Neither spouse can make any future financial claims against the other’s financial assets, even decades down the line.
- Protection of future wealth: If your financial position improves post-divorce (career promotion, business success, lottery win), a clean break order ensures your ex-spouse has no legal entitlement to claim a share of those new assets.
- Protection against future liabilities: A clean break order ensures that you are not held liable or financially exposed if your former spouse incurs significant debt.
Disadvantages of clean break orders
- Loss of ongoing financial support: For a financially dependent spouse, an immediate clean break order terminates any right to receive ongoing spousal maintenance. This can create immediate financial instability.
- Legally binding: Clean break orders are exceptionally difficult to overturn. Even if you experience a loss of employment or permanent illness, the court will not revisit or overturn the financial agreement. There are narrow circumstances in which the court can set aside a clean break order, such as fraud/misrepresentation, failure of significant disclosure or a fundamental mistake of fact or law at the time the order was approved.
Our experienced divorce financial settlement solicitors can provide tailored advice to help you negotiate a fair settlement.
How to apply for a clean break order?
Applying for a clean break order requires navigating a formal legal process through the family court system. Even if you and your spouse are in full agreement regarding the division of your assets, it must be drafted correctly, submitted formally and approved by a family judge to become legally binding.
Here is a step-by-step guide:
- Reach an agreement: Both parties must agree on how their existing assets and pensions will be divided. If you and your spouse cannot reach an agreement directly, you can negotiate through specialist divorce solicitors.
- Share financial information: Both you and your former partner must provide full and frank financial disclosure by completing a joint Statement of Information (Clean break order form D81).
- Draft a clean break order: Write your agreement into a formal legal document. Standard divorce papers do not automatically sever financial ties, so precise legal wording is essential.
- Submit to the court: Send your signed draft consent order, completed Form D81 and the current court fee to the family court.
- Wait for judicial approval: A judge will review the paperwork under Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 to ensure the agreement is fair and reasonable.
What happens if your ex won’t sign a clean break order?
Financial clean break orders require both parties’ signatures; you cannot force your former spouse to sign it. If your ex-partner refuses or delays signing a clean break agreement, you cannot simply leave the matter unresolved without exposing yourself to long-term financial risk.
Without a court-approved clean break order, your ex-spouse retains the legal right to bring financial claims against you indefinitely.
How long does a clean break order take?
Obtaining an agreed clean break order takes between 3 – 6 weeks from the moment the draft consent order is submitted to the family court. However, because a financial clean break must be aligned with the broader timeline of your divorce, the entire journey from initial negotiations to a final, legally binding order usually spans 6 to 12 months.
How we can help
Navigating the legal complexities of financial settlements during a divorce requires experienced, expert guidance to ensure your long-term wealth remains fully protected. Whether you are unsure which type of clean break order to choose, how to apply for a clean break order, or dealing with an uncooperative ex-spouse who refuses to sign, early legal advice from Richard Nelson LLP is vital.
Precise legal drafting is essential. A poorly structured agreement can leave you exposed to financial claims in the future. Working with our expert financial settlements solicitors ensures your clean break order provides absolute clarity, security and finality.
To protect your financial future, get in touch today.
