We have reached agreement what now?
There are of course plenty of people who
are able to agree about their division of property (house, furniture, cash
etc.) and never need to see a lawyer. As a lawyer we would never hear about
such cases.
If you fall into this category,
congratulations.
Reaching agreement however is only the
first step.
It can pay to still formalize your
agreement. The most cost effective way for you to do this is by way of
Application for consent orders and Minute of Order.
Both these documents can be found at the
Family Court Web Site.
They look daunting, but are effective and
best of all you do not need to see a lawyer. The two of you can do it by
yourself.
The other way people often talk of
formalizing their agreement is by way of binding financial agreement. This way
though both of you will need to obtain independent legal advice, which will be
costly.
Both the consent order form and the minute
of order will be filed with the court and final property orders will be made.
You can use this form for children orders as well.
For financial orders you need to fill in
your financial situation now, not at separation.
In our next posts we will look at filling
out the form in more detail.
In the meantime you can follow these links
to have a look at both documents:
and
