The consent orders walkthrough

I sat at the kitchen bench at 9pm on a Sunday with a printed PDF, a cheap biro, and a cup of tea that had gone cold an hour earlier. The form was sixty-something pages, mostly blank, mostly tick-boxes. I had told myself it would take twenty minutes. It took most of the night. The questions were not difficult. They were specific in a way that made me realise how loosely we had been talking about our settlement, and how much of what we thought we had agreed to was still vague.

Consent orders are how most amicable Australian divorces actually finish. Not a fight, not a trial, not a tense morning outside a courtroom. A document, signed by both parties, sent to a court, stamped by a registrar. Quiet, slow, mostly procedural. The work is in the preparation, not the lodgement.

This is the walkthrough I wish I had been handed at the start.

What consent orders actually are

A consent order is a court order that records an agreement reached between two parties. The court has not decided anything. The parties have. The court reads what they have agreed, decides whether it is just and equitable (for property) or in the child's best interests (for parenting), and stamps it. Once stamped, it is legally binding in the same way a contested judgement would be.

There are two main contexts in family law:

• Property and financial matters (asset division, spousal maintenance, super splitting).
• Parenting matters (where the children live, how time is shared, decision-making).

You can do both in the same set of orders, or just one. Most separating couples with children and assets do both together, because the issues are connected and the application form covers them in one document.

Consent orders are filed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (the merged court that replaced the old Family Court and Federal Circuit Court structure). The application is lodged through the Commonwealth Courts Portal, which is the online filing system. You upload the documents, pay the fee, and wait.

What consent orders are NOT:

• They are not a divorce. The divorce order is a separate application with a separate fee and a separate timetable.
• They are not the same as a Binding Financial Agreement (BFA). A BFA is a private contract between the parties, not a court order. It does not need court approval, but it does need full independent legal advice on both sides, and it can be set aside more easily.
• They are not negotiable after the fact, except by another set of orders. Once made, they bind you.

The Application for Consent Orders

The form is officially called the "Application for Consent Orders". You can find the current version on the Federal Circuit and Family Court website. It is long, but most of it is structured tick-boxes and short factual answers, not free writing.

Roughly, the form asks for:

• Identification details. Names, dates of birth, addresses, marriage details (or de facto relationship details), separation date.
• Children of the relationship. Names, ages, current living arrangements, schools, health considerations.
• The asset and liability schedule. Every asset, every debt, valued in current dollars.
• Superannuation interests. Both parties, current balances, fund names, member numbers.
• Income. Both parties, gross and net.
• Contributions to the relationship. Financial, non-financial, homemaker, parenting.
• Future needs factors. Age, health, earning capacity, who has primary care of the kids.
• The proposed orders themselves. The actual instructions you want the court to make.

The proposed orders are the heart of the document. They are written as numbered paragraphs, each one an instruction. "The husband shall transfer to the wife his interest in the property at [address] within 60 days of the date of these orders". "The wife shall release the husband from any liability under the mortgage held by [bank] within 90 days, by way of refinance". "The husband's superannuation interest in [fund] shall be split such that [amount] is transferred to the wife's nominated fund". And so on.

Most people use a solicitor to draft the proposed orders, even if they fill in the rest of the form themselves. The drafting matters. Vague orders cause enforcement problems later. Tight orders, written in the court's preferred language, get stamped quickly.

The Form 11 (and why it matters)

Alongside the Application, you file a document historically called the "Annexure" or "Form 11 Statement of Agreed Facts". Names and form numbers change as the court updates its rules, but the function is constant. This document is your sworn statement that:

• The facts in the application are true.
• You both freely agreed to the orders.
• You both understand them.
• You have had the opportunity to seek independent legal advice (whether you took it or not).
• There is no duress, undue influence, or fraud.

Both parties sign it. Witnessed, in most cases, by a justice of the peace, lawyer, or other authorised witness depending on jurisdiction. The court relies on this document to be satisfied that the agreement is genuine.

If parenting orders are involved, there is an additional declaration about the children. You confirm that you have considered their best interests, that the proposed arrangements meet their needs, and that you have given thought to safety considerations including any history of family violence.

The court will scrutinise parenting orders more closely than property orders. A registrar can stamp a property settlement that is unusual (say, a 70/30 split) without much fuss if the reasons are documented. A parenting arrangement that looks risky to a child will be queried, sent back, or referred to a judge.

What it costs

The filing fee for an Application for Consent Orders sits at the cost of a moderate weekend away. As of recent fee schedules, it is in the low to mid hundreds (the exact figure changes most years, check the current fee on the Federal Circuit and Family Court website before lodging).

Reduced fees are available for parties on certain Centrelink payments, low-income earners, or holders of healthcare cards. The application for the fee reduction is a separate form. If you qualify, lodge it with the consent orders application, not after.

What is not in that fee:

• Solicitor's costs to draft and review the orders. These vary wildly. A simple straightforward set of orders, drafted by a family lawyer with both parties broadly aligned, runs from about $1,500 to $4,000 inclusive. A complex matter (business interests, defined benefit super, multiple properties) can run $5,000 to $15,000 even without a fight.
• Independent legal advice for each party. Recommended, sometimes required by the lawyer drafting (so they can confirm both parties had the chance to advise themselves).
• Valuations. House, business, super (if defined benefit). These are paid separately to the relevant valuer.
• Conveyancing or refinance costs if property is being transferred.

A fully self-represented consent orders application, where both parties have agreed all terms and just need to lodge, can cost only the filing fee. A typical lawyer-assisted consent orders application costs around $3,000 to $6,000 between both parties, plus the filing fee. Compared to a contested matter (which can run $50,000 to $200,000 each before trial), it is, by some margin, the cheapest civilised exit.

Why most settled divorces use consent orders

Three reasons, in order of weight.

Finality. Once the orders are made, they bind both parties. She cannot come back in five years and reopen the property. You cannot decide later you should have got more super. The deal is the deal, in a way that an informal handshake or even a written separation agreement is not. Section 79 of the Family Law Act requires that property orders, once made, are final, save in narrow circumstances (fraud, suppressing assets, miscarriage of justice).

CGT and stamp duty relief. Transfers of property and certain other assets between spouses pursuant to a court order qualify for CGT rollover relief and stamp duty exemption. Without an order (just an informal agreement), you may trigger capital gains and stamp duty on the transfer. This alone can save tens of thousands on a typical Australian property settlement.

Enforceability. If she does not transfer the title, or you do not pay the agreed lump sum, the other party can apply to the court to enforce the orders. There are penalties. With a private agreement, you have to sue for breach of contract, which is slower and less reliable.

Most lawyers will not let you settle with a handshake when an asset transfer is involved. They want orders. The CGT and stamp duty savings alone usually justify the fee.

How long the court takes

Variable. The honest answer.

If your application is clean (well-drafted orders, complete asset schedule, both parties' signatures and witness sections in order, parenting arrangements that read as sensible), a registrar can stamp it in two to six weeks. Quiet matter, no children, both parties cooperative, drafted by a family lawyer who knows the registrar's preferences: you can have the stamp in under a month.

If the application has issues (incomplete disclosure, vague orders, an unusual split that needs explaining, parenting arrangements that raise concerns), the registrar may issue a "requisition", which is a request for further information or amendments. You respond, often through your lawyer, and the clock restarts. Three months is normal in this scenario. Six months is not unusual if there are several rounds.

Most practitioners I have spoken to say the single biggest cause of delay is poor drafting of the orders themselves. The form fields are usually fine. The proposed orders, written by people who do not regularly write court orders, are full of ambiguity and missing detail. This is why the few hundred dollars on a solicitor to review the drafted orders before lodging is almost always money well spent.

Practical sequence

If you are working towards consent orders, the rough order of operations is:

• Reach broad agreement on the shape of the deal (percentage split, who gets the house, parenting structure).
• Get valuations done (house, business if any, super if defined benefit).
• Disclose fully to each other. Bank statements, tax returns, super statements, property deeds, business accounts. Use a checklist; do not skip categories.
• Draft proposed orders. Either party's solicitor can do the first draft.
• Review independently. Each party with their own lawyer, or at least with their own legal advice session.
• Sign the application, the statement of agreed facts, any annexures.
• Pay the fee on the Commonwealth Courts Portal.
• Lodge.
• Respond to any requisition.
• Receive the sealed orders by email.

From the moment you both broadly agree, the realistic timeline is two to six months to a sealed set of orders. Faster is possible but rare. Slower is common when valuations or drafting drag.

What to do once they are sealed

The week after you receive the sealed orders, do these things:

• Send a copy to your accountant. They need it for CGT purposes and to update your tax position.
• Send a copy to your super fund if a splitting order is included. They will have a process and a form.
• Send a copy to your bank if a refinance or property transfer is involved.
• Update your will. The orders do not do this for you. A divorce affects gifts to your former spouse in a will, but the rules are technical and you should have the document redrafted regardless.
• Update beneficiary nominations on super, life insurance, and any other instruments.
• File the orders somewhere you can find them in twenty years. They never expire.

CONSENT orders are not a celebration. They are a closing of the books. A clean closing, with the right drafting and the right disclosure, is the best legal exit available in this country.

Get it written. Get it signed. Get it stamped.