How Much Does a Clean Break Order Cost in the UK? (2026 Guide)

A clean break order is one of the cheapest forms of legal protection you can get — and one of the most expensive to skip.

The order itself costs as little as £199 + a £62 court fee. But without one, you're leaving the door open for your ex-spouse to claim against your future earnings, pension, inheritance, or even a lottery win — years or decades after your divorce is finalised. That's not a theoretical risk. It's exactly what happened in the landmark Supreme Court case of Wyatt v Vince, where an ex-wife successfully pursued a financial claim against her former husband's multimillion-pound business nearly 19 years after their divorce.

So the real question isn't whether you can afford a clean break order. It's whether you can afford not to have one.

What Is a Clean Break Order?

A clean break order is a type of financial consent order that permanently severs all financial ties between former spouses. Once approved by a judge, neither party can make any future financial claims against the other — no matter how their circumstances change.

It covers capital, property, savings, investments, and pensions, and it dismisses any right to spousal maintenance. The court's power to impose a clean break comes from section 25A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which requires judges to consider whether financial obligations between spouses can be ended as soon after divorce as is just and reasonable.

Crucially, a clean break order is not the same as getting divorced. Your Final Order (formerly Decree Absolute) ends the marriage — but it does nothing to close off financial claims. Those remain open indefinitely unless a court order specifically dismisses them.

How Much Does a Clean Break Order Cost? (August 2026)

The total cost of a clean break order has two components: the professional fee for preparing the documents, and the court fee for submitting them. Here's how each route compares:

Route	Document Preparation	Court Fee	Total Cost
Automated Platform (e.g. ConsentReady)	From £199	£62	From £261
Budget Online Solicitor	£159–£269	£62	£221–£331
Mid-Range Online Service	£399–£599	£62	£461–£661
Traditional Solicitor	£650–£3,500+ (often hourly)	£62	£712–£3,562+
DIY (free template)	£0	£62	£62 (but higher rejection risk)

Court fee correct as of 13 July 2026 (increased from £60). All solicitor prices exclude VAT unless stated.

An important caveat on the cheapest solicitor services: the £159–£269 price point typically covers basic clean break orders only — where there are no assets, no property, and no pensions to divide. If you have a house, pension, or other assets that need to be addressed in the order, you'll almost certainly need a fuller consent order package, which starts higher (£399–£799 for online services, £1,000+ for solicitors).

Watch for the "Cheap Clean Break" Trap

When comparing prices, be cautious of low headline figures. A service advertising a clean break order for £159 or £179 sounds like a bargain — until you realise it covers only the simplest possible case: no property, no pensions, no assets to divide. The moment your situation includes a Pension Sharing Annex, a property transfer, or a lump sum payment, additional fees apply. These add-ons can quietly push your final bill past £500 — sometimes beyond what a more comprehensive fixed-fee service would have charged from the start.

Before committing to any service based on its headline price, ask: what exactly is included for that figure, and what will cost extra? A transparent fixed-fee service that covers your actual situation — including pension and property provisions — is almost always better value than a low starting price that grows as your needs become clear.

What's Included in a Clean Break Order?

A properly drafted clean break order should contain specific legal provisions that dismiss all categories of future financial claims. If any of these are missing, the order may not provide the protection you think it does — and a court may reject it.

Here's what should be covered:

Provision	What It Does	Why It Matters
Dismissal of spousal maintenance claims	Bars either party from claiming ongoing financial support from the other	Without this, your ex could seek maintenance if their circumstances change
Dismissal of capital/lump sum claims	Bars claims against savings, investments, business assets, and future wealth	This is what Wyatt v Vince was about — without it, future wealth is exposed
Dismissal of property claims	Bars claims against current and future property	Protects any property you buy after the divorce
Dismissal of pension claims	Bars future claims against pension assets	Critical — pensions are often the largest asset and the most commonly overlooked
Section 28(1A) bar	Prevents either party from extending a maintenance order after it ends	Ensures the clean break is genuinely final
Dismissal of claims under the Inheritance Act 1975	Bars claims against the other party's estate after death	Without this, your ex could claim against your estate even after you die

If your clean break order doesn't include all of these provisions, it isn't really a clean break — it's a partial order that leaves gaps. This is one of the most common problems with DIY orders and template-based services: they may dismiss some claims but miss others, creating a false sense of security.

Clean Break Order vs Consent Order: What's the Difference?

These terms are often used interchangeably, which causes confusion. Here's the distinction:

A consent order is the broader term — it's any financial order made by the court with the agreement of both parties. It can include property transfers, pension sharing arrangements, lump sum payments, maintenance orders, and asset division.

A clean break order is a specific type of consent order (or a provision within one) that dismisses all future financial claims. You can have a consent order that includes a clean break clause, or a standalone clean break order that simply dismisses claims without dividing any assets.

In practice, most couples need a consent order with clean break provisions — meaning they divide their assets (house, pensions, savings) and simultaneously dismiss all future claims. A pure standalone clean break is appropriate only where there are no assets to divide, or where division has already been agreed informally and both parties simply want to close off future claims.

Scenario	What You Need	Typical Cost
No assets, no property, no pensions — just want to dismiss future claims	Standalone Clean Break Order	£199–£399 + £62 court fee
Property to transfer/sell, pensions to consider, but agreement reached	Consent Order with Clean Break provisions	£349–£799 + £62 court fee
Complex assets, defined benefit pensions, business interests	Consent Order with Clean Break + PODE report + possible solicitor review	£799–£3,500+ plus PODE (£1,500–£3,000)

The Wyatt v Vince Warning: What Happens Without a Clean Break

No article about clean break orders is complete without mentioning Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14 — the Supreme Court case that proved exactly why this order matters.

Dale Vince and Kathleen Wyatt married in 1981 and separated in 1984. At the time, neither had any significant assets. Their divorce was finalised in 1992, but — crucially — no financial order was ever made to dismiss their claims against each other.

In the years that followed, Dale Vince founded Ecotricity, a green energy company that grew to be worth an estimated £57 million. In 2011 — nearly 19 years after the divorce — Kathleen Wyatt applied to the family court for a financial settlement from her ex-husband's fortune.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that there is no time limit on financial claims after divorce. Because no clean break order had ever been made, Kathleen Wyatt was legally entitled to pursue her claim. The couple eventually settled for £300,000 — a figure Dale Vince could have avoided entirely with a clean break order that would have cost a few hundred pounds at the time of their divorce.

The lesson is blunt: if you don't have a clean break order, your financial exposure never expires. It doesn't matter that you had no assets at the time of divorce. It doesn't matter that your ex agreed informally to walk away. Without a court-sealed order dismissing claims, either party can come back — and the law will let them.

Do You Need a Clean Break Order If You Have No Assets?

This is one of the most common questions — and the answer is almost always yes.

In fact, couples with no assets arguably need a clean break order more than wealthy couples, not less. Here's why: if you're 30, recently divorced, and neither of you has much money right now, you potentially have 30–40 years of earning, inheriting, and accumulating wealth ahead of you. Without a clean break order, your ex-spouse retains the legal right to claim against everything you build in those decades.

The Wyatt v Vince case is the perfect illustration. At the time of their divorce, both parties had virtually nothing. It was precisely because neither had assets that they didn't bother with a financial order. Two decades and £57 million later, that decision cost Dale Vince £300,000 — plus years of litigation and legal fees.

A clean break order for a couple with no assets is one of the simplest and cheapest orders to obtain. There's nothing to divide, so the document simply dismisses all future claims. Total cost: as little as £199 + £62 court fee. That's £261 to close the door permanently on financial claims that could otherwise cost you many times more.

How to Get a Clean Break Order: Step by Step

The process is straightforward, especially for agreed cases:

1. Agree the financial terms with your ex-spouse. You both need to agree that a clean break is appropriate — and, if there are assets to divide, how they'll be split. You cannot get a consent order (including a clean break) without the other party's agreement.
2. Prepare the documents. You need two things: a Draft Consent Order containing the clean break provisions, and a completed Form D81 (Statement of Information) summarising both parties' finances. This is where the cost variation comes in — you can use an automated platform, an online solicitor service, or a traditional solicitor.
3. Both parties sign the Draft Consent Order. Both the applicant and respondent must sign the order before it's submitted to the court.
4. Submit to the Family Court with the £62 court fee. The application goes to your local Family Court (or the court handling your divorce). You can submit by post or, in some cases, online.
5. Wait for the judge's decision. A District Judge reviews the order and the Form D81 to check that the agreement is fair. This typically takes 4–8 weeks. The judge may approve the order as submitted, request amendments, or (rarely) reject it outright.
6. Receive the sealed order. Once approved, the court returns a sealed copy of the order to both parties. This is now a legally binding court order — your clean break is complete.

One important timing note: the clean break order can only take effect once the Conditional Order (formerly Decree Nisi) has been granted. Most couples apply for their consent order between the Conditional Order and the Final Order stages of their divorce.

What Makes a Clean Break Order Get Rejected?

Courts reject clean break orders for predictable, avoidable reasons. The most common include:

• Incomplete Form D81 — missing financial information, blank fields, or figures that don't add up
• Missing dismissal provisions — the order doesn't dismiss all categories of claims (capital, maintenance, pension, inheritance)
• No pension provision — pensions are mentioned in the D81 but the order doesn't address them (either sharing them or explicitly dismissing pension claims)
• The agreement appears unfair — one party is receiving significantly less than they might be entitled to, without explanation. The judge has a duty to check that both parties' needs are met.
• Incorrect legal phrasing — DIY orders often use informal language instead of the precise recitals and clauses that courts expect

The best way to avoid rejection is to use a service that checks your order against these criteria before submission — rather than one that simply promises to fix problems after the court sends it back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get a clean break order after my divorce is already finalised?

Yes. You can apply for a clean break order at any point after your Conditional Order — including after your Final Order has been granted. There is no time limit. However, the longer you wait, the more risk you carry. Apply as soon as both parties agree.

Does a clean break order affect child maintenance?

No. Child maintenance is the child's entitlement, not the parent's. A clean break order dismisses financial claims between the former spouses — it has no effect on Child Maintenance Service (CMS) obligations or any child-related financial arrangements.

Can a clean break order be overturned?

Only in very narrow circumstances — specifically, if one party can prove fraudulent non-disclosure of assets (as in the cases of Sharland and Gohil), or if there's been an immediate, unforeseeable collapse of the basis on which the order was made. Properly drafted, fully disclosed clean break orders are among the most durable orders in family law.

My ex won't agree to a clean break. What can I do?

A consent order (including a clean break) requires both parties' agreement. If your ex refuses, you may need to apply to the court for a contested financial remedy order using Form A — which is a different, more expensive, and more complex process. Mediation can sometimes help reach agreement before going down this route.

Is a clean break order the same as a financial consent order?

A clean break order is a type of financial consent order — specifically, one that dismisses all future financial claims. Not all consent orders include clean break provisions (some include ongoing maintenance, for example). If you want a full and final financial separation, make sure your consent order specifically includes clean break provisions that dismiss all categories of claims.

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This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. ConsentReady is an automated legal document generation platform, not a regulated law firm. Prices quoted for third-party services were verified in August 2026 and may change. The court fee of £62 is correct as of 13 July 2026 following The Court and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2026. For advice specific to your situation, consider consulting a family solicitor.