MONEY & FINANCIAL SETTLEMENTS
Financial Remedy Proceedings
About Financial Remedy Proceedings
Financial remedy proceedings are the court route for dividing money, property, pensions and income when a marriage or civil partnership ends and you cannot agree. The application is made on Form A, both of you give full disclosure on Form E, and the case moves through a first appointment, a financial dispute resolution appointment and, if it still does not settle, a final hearing. We prepare the application and the disclosure, negotiate at every stage and represent you at each hearing.
Who this is for
- Spouses and civil partners who cannot agree how the home, savings, pensions and income should be divided
- People whose negotiation, mediation or arbitration has ended without an agreement
- Anyone served with a Form A who needs disclosure and pre-hearing documents filed on time
- People who need an interim order for maintenance or towards legal costs while the case runs
How RakLAW helps
- Advise whether a court application is the right step now, and prepare and issue the Form A
- Complete your Form E with the documents the form requires, and check the other side's disclosure for gaps
- Draft the questionnaire and the composite case summary and asset schedule the court expects
- Negotiate throughout and put any agreement before the court as a consent order as soon as agreement is within reach
- Represent you at the first appointment, the FDR and any final hearing, and instruct valuers, accountants or pension actuaries where the court directs
- Apply where needed for interim maintenance, a payment towards legal services or an order to preserve assets
What Financial Remedy Proceedings Are
The procedure is in Part 9 of the Family Procedure Rules and the case is heard in the Financial Remedies Court. Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 a judge can order periodical payments and lump sums (section 23), the transfer or settlement of property (section 24), the sale of property where it has made an order for a lump sum, secured periodical payments or a property adjustment (section 24A) and pension sharing (section 24B). Schedule 5 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 provides equivalent orders for civil partners.
You can ask for a financial order in the divorce or dissolution application itself, or at any time after it has been made, in the court dealing with it. If you remarry or form a civil partnership before you apply, section 28(3) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 bars a claim for maintenance, a lump sum or a property adjustment order against your former spouse. A final order for a spouse or civil partner cannot take effect until the divorce or dissolution is made final, although interim orders such as maintenance pending suit run while the case is live: see conditional and final orders.
The judge applies the section 25 factors, set out on our financial settlement on divorce page. Agreed terms can instead be approved as a consent order, and a claim for a child of unmarried parents falls under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989.
What the Court Expects Before You Apply
The pre-application protocol annexed to Practice Direction 9A sets out what is expected. You must attend a mediation information and assessment meeting, a MIAM, unless an exemption in rule 3.8 applies, such as evidence of domestic abuse or urgency. Attending does not commit you to mediating: see our MIAM advice page.
The court also expects you to have tried at least one form of non-court dispute resolution first, unless there are safety concerns or another good reason. That means mediation, arbitration or neutral evaluation such as a private FDR. Solicitors' correspondence alone is not enough.
The court must consider at every stage whether non-court dispute resolution is appropriate, and each party files a Form FM5 on it, normally at least 7 days before the first hearing.
Where there is evidence of domestic abuse of a kind listed in Practice Direction 3A, the exemption is claimed on the application form and no MIAM is needed, although the court checks at the first hearing that it was validly claimed and can direct a MIAM if it was not. Our domestic abuse and injunctions pages explain the protective orders available. In immediate danger call 999; the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is 0808 2000 247.
Disclosure, Evidence and Common Problems
Proceedings are built on disclosure. Not less than 35 days before the first appointment, you both exchange and file a financial statement in Form E, verified by a statement of truth, with the documents the form requires and anything needed to explain them, and the pension documents the rules allow.
Not less than 14 days before that hearing, each of you files a concise statement of the issues, a chronology, a questionnaire for the other side and a notice saying whether the hearing could be an FDR. The Financial Remedies Guide 2026 says a questionnaire should not run beyond four pages of A4, and that a longer one is only likely to be allowed where complexity, including alleged non-disclosure, justifies it. Before each main hearing the applicant files two jointly produced documents: a case summary on Template ES1, which satisfies the statement of issues and chronology requirement, and a schedule of assets and income on Template ES2.
The most costly problems are predictable:
- a Form E filed without the documents it asks for, which the court weighs on costs along with any explanation given
- valuation disputes over the home, a company (see business assets in divorce) or a pension (see pensions on divorce)
- disclosure that is incomplete or misleading: see hidden assets and non-disclosure
- assets sold or moved abroad once a claim is in prospect: see freezing orders
The duty to give full and honest disclosure is ongoing until a final financial remedies order is made, so any material change must be disclosed as it happens.
How Financial Remedy Proceedings Work
- We issue Form A in the court dealing with the divorce or dissolution. A court fee is payable.
- The court fixes the first appointment and the application is served, then disclosure and the pre-hearing documents follow.
- At the first appointment the judge decides what must be answered and produced, gives directions on evidence, and must refer the case to an FDR unless there are exceptional reasons.
- At the FDR you negotiate with a judge's help, with the applicant having filed details of all offers and responses not less than 7 days beforehand. Agreed terms can become an order that day.
- If it does not settle, each of you files an open proposal, normally within 21 days, and the court directs the steps to a final hearing.
- At the final hearing the judge decides. We implement the order, and advise on enforcement of financial orders if it is ignored or variation if circumstances change.
A fast-track applies where the only order sought is periodical payments, and to most applications to vary periodical payments, with a shorter timetable.
Court Fees, Costs Orders and Interim Payments
A court fee is payable on issue. Fees change, so check the official court fees page for the current amount, and there is help with court fees for people with little in savings who are on a low income or getting certain benefits. Our charges are on our family law fees page.
The general rule in the proceedings themselves is that the court will not order one of you to pay the other's costs. It can still do so because of a party's conduct in the proceedings: breaches of the rules, the open offers made and the way the case has been run. Practice Direction 28A states that refusing openly to negotiate reasonably and responsibly will generally be treated as conduct in respect of which the court will consider a costs order. Costs on interim applications such as maintenance pending suit or a payment towards legal services fall outside that general rule, so the court decides those costs on the facts of the application.
Interim orders are available at any stage, including maintenance pending suit and a payment towards the other party's legal services. A legal services payment order carries its own conditions, set by section 22ZA of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
When Legal Advice Is Especially Important
A final order is hard to reopen. Where no error of the court is alleged it can be set aside only on limited grounds, which include fraud, material non-disclosure, certain kinds of mistake, or a later unforeseen event undermining its basis.
Advice matters most where:
- you have been served with a Form A and the disclosure deadlines are running
- assets or one of you are outside England and Wales, or the marriage ended abroad: see financial claims after an overseas divorce
- you believe the disclosure given to you is incomplete, or money is being moved
- costs risk becoming disproportionate to the dispute
How RakLAW Solicitors Can Help
RakLAW Solicitors acts in financial remedy proceedings from 42 Shad Thames in Southwark, a short walk from Tower Bridge. A free 15-minute consultation lets us understand your position before we advise on whether to apply.
We prepare the Form A and your Form E, draft the questionnaire and the composite ES1 and ES2 documents, and represent you at every hearing. We keep negotiating throughout, including through mediation and other out of court options.
Related topics, from clean break orders to spousal maintenance, are listed on our money and financial settlements hub, and our article on the Financial Remedies Guide 2026 covers current court expectations. RakLAW Solicitors does not offer legal aid. Call 0203 345 2000 or book an appointment. RakLAW Solicitors is SRA regulated, SRA number 8007405.
Frequently asked questions
How do I start financial remedy proceedings?
You apply on Form A, filed in the court where the divorce or dissolution is proceeding. The court then fixes the first appointment and the application is served on the other party. A court fee is payable on issue, and the Financial Remedies Court runs on an online portal, so a solicitor files the documents with the court through it.
When can I apply for a financial order?
An application can be made in the divorce or dissolution application itself, or at any time after that application has been made. If you remarry or form a new civil partnership before applying, section 28(3) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 stops you applying for maintenance, a lump sum or a property adjustment order against your former spouse. A final order in favour of a spouse or civil partner cannot take effect until the divorce or dissolution is made final.
What if we have not tried mediation or arbitration?
The pre-application protocol says the court expects at least one form of non-court dispute resolution before proceedings start, unless there are safety concerns or another good reason. If nothing has been attempted, the court may decline to start the court timetable or suspend it until it has. A failure without good reason is also an express reason for the court to consider a costs order.
What happens at the first appointment?
It is a directions hearing conducted with the objective of defining the issues and saving costs. The judge decides which of the questionnaire questions must be answered and which documents produced, gives directions about valuations and expert evidence, and must refer the case to an FDR unless one has already been effective or there are exceptional reasons not to.
Is what we say at the FDR appointment confidential?
The FDR is treated as a meeting held for discussion and negotiation. Practice Direction 9A explains that evidence of anything said or admitted at an FDR is not admissible later, other than in very exceptional circumstances, and the offers filed for the appointment can be taken back off the court file at the end of it.
Does the FDR judge decide the case if we do not settle?
No. The judge who hears the FDR can only conduct a further FDR, make a consent order or give further directions, and otherwise has no further involvement in the case. A different judge decides the case at any final hearing.
Do we have to attend the hearings in person?
Both parties must personally attend the first appointment and the FDR unless the court directs otherwise. Where you both agree the first appointment directions in advance, the accelerated procedure in the Financial Remedies Guide 2026 lets a judge approve the order on paper instead, and the Guide recognises that many hearings can be held remotely under local arrangements.
Who pays the legal costs of financial remedy proceedings?
The general rule in the proceedings themselves is that neither of you pays the other's costs, but the court can depart from it because of a party's conduct in the proceedings. It will take into account matters such as failing without good reason to attend a MIAM or non-court dispute resolution, breaches of the rules and orders, the open offers made and the way the case has been run.
Can the court order my spouse to fund my legal costs?
It can make a legal services payment order. The court has to be satisfied that without the payment you would not reasonably be able to obtain appropriate legal services, that you cannot reasonably secure a loan to pay for them, and that you are unlikely to obtain them by offering a charge over what you recover in the proceedings.
Are financial remedy hearings held in private?
Family proceedings are held in private, so the general public have no right to be present. Accredited journalists and legal bloggers may attend, although no reporter is entitled to attend an FDR, and in the Financial Remedies Court the judge decides, under a reporting pilot, through a transparency order what, if anything, may be reported, with power to exclude reporters or to direct that the case is not reported at all. We advise at the outset on what this means for your case and on any anonymity you want the court to consider.
What if my spouse does not give full disclosure?
The questionnaire and the first appointment exist for that. The judge decides what has to be answered and what documents must be produced, and can make further orders if replies do not arrive. Persistent non-disclosure has costs consequences, and an order obtained through material non-disclosure can later be set aside.
Can we still settle after the application has been issued?
Yes, and most cases do. Terms can be agreed at any stage and put before the court for approval, including at the FDR itself, where the court can make the order on the day. Proceedings do not stop you using mediation, arbitration or a private FDR alongside the court timetable.
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