Clean Break Order: What It Ends and What It Cannot

Part of: Financial Settlement after Divorce

A clean break order is the part of a divorce financial order that ends the money claims you and your former spouse hold against each other, so neither of you can return to court later for maintenance, a lump sum, property or a share of a pension. The divorce does not do that by itself. Those claims survive the final order until a court dismisses them, and whenever the court makes a financial order it has a duty to consider ending your obligations to each other as soon as is just and reasonable (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s.25A). This guide explains what a clean break financial order can end, what it can never touch, and how to tell whether it is the right deal for you. It forms part of our guide to financial settlement after divorce and covers the law in England and Wales.

If your ex wants you to sign away your claims, you can book a free initial consultation and one of our specialists will give you initial advice on your situation before you agree.

What does a clean break order cover?

It ends every financial claim that each of you could otherwise bring against the other because of the marriage. The dismissal is usually a few paragraphs near the end of a longer clean break financial order, which can also transfer the house, share a pension and pay a lump sum before it dismisses everything that is left.

Where you both agree, you ask a judge to approve the terms as a consent order, which our separate guide explains. If you cannot agree, a judge deciding the case must still consider a clean break, and can impose one by dismissing a maintenance claim without the applicant’s consent (s.25A(3)).

Is a clean break order right for you? Three questions

Three facts decide most of it: whether you have children, whether the pensions have been valued, and whether one of you earns far less. Answer for your own situation and you will see which claims could usually close now, which need a figure first, and which decision needs a specialist.

Can you get a clean break order with children?

Yes, but child maintenance always survives it. Parents can make their own maintenance agreement, but the agreement does not stop either of them asking for a maintenance calculation, and a term that tries to restrict that right is void (Child Support Act 1991, s.9(3) and (4)). If the court order itself sets child maintenance, either parent can go to the Child Maintenance Service once the order has been in force for a year (s.4(10)(aa)). A clean break divorce between parents ends what the two adults owe each other, while support for the children carries on under its own rules. Our child maintenance guide covers how the amount is set.

Children also shape the deal itself. When the court decides a financial case, its first consideration is the welfare of any child of the family under 18 (MCA 1973, s.25(1)). In practice that usually means housing. If the parent the children live with cannot rehouse them from their share, the court may postpone the sale of the home until the children are older, the arrangement our guide to the Mesher order explains. The same order can still dismiss the adult claims.

Clean break and pensions: do you need a valuation first?

Yes. Get a valuation for every pension before you agree to dismiss any claim over it. A pension can be worth more than the equity in the house, yet it is easy to wave it through when nobody has asked for the figure. Once a judge seals a clean break order, you cannot get back a pension claim you gave up.

• Ask for the transfer value. Each scheme can provide a cash equivalent transfer value. Our guide to the pension CETV explains what the figure does and does not tell you.
• Sharing and a clean break go together. A pension sharing order splits a pension in the same order that dismisses everything else, so you do not have to choose between a share and finality.
• Offsetting needs both numbers. Trading a bigger share of the house for the pension only works if you know what each side of the trade is worth.

When is a clean break order the wrong deal?

It is the wrong deal when one of you gave up years of earning to raise children or support the other’s career, and the capital on offer will not cover the gap. An immediate clean break divorce suits couples who can each stand on their own. The law expects the court to weigh that gap: where it orders maintenance after divorce, it must consider limiting the payments to a term long enough for the receiving party to adjust without undue hardship (s.25A(2)).

A deferred clean break

A deferred clean break dismisses the capital claims now and lets spousal maintenance run for a set number of years. The point to negotiate hardest is the section 28(1A) direction. With it, the end date is final. Without it, the receiving party can apply to extend the term, so the paying party has an end date that may not hold.

Turning maintenance into a clean break later

A maintenance order does not have to run forever. When the court discharges or shortens a maintenance order after the divorce, it can also order a lump sum, a property adjustment or a pension share, and direct that no further maintenance claim can be made (MCA 1973, s.31(7A) and (7B)). People often call this capitalising maintenance. It lets you reach a clean break years after the original order.

Does a handshake agreement end your claims?

No. An agreement you never turned into a court order does not end anything. Many people believe they had a clean break divorce because they divided things up themselves and stopped talking about money. In law their claims are still there.

Wyatt v Vince shows how long that can last. The court made the couple’s divorce final in October 1992, and no financial order followed. In 2011, after the husband had built a wind energy business, the wife applied for financial provision. He asked the court to strike her claim out, and the Court of Appeal did. The Supreme Court allowed her appeal and held that her application should proceed ([2015] UKSC 14). The delay could reduce what she received, but it did not stop her bringing the claim.

One rule cuts the other way. If you remarry or form a civil partnership before you apply, you can no longer apply for maintenance, a lump sum or a property order for yourself against your former spouse (MCA 1973, s.28(3)). So settle the finances before you commit to someone new.

When does a clean break take effect?

Only once a judge has approved the order and your divorce has been made final. The court can make the order after your conditional order, but maintenance and lump sum orders made at that stage only take effect when the divorce is made final (MCA 1973, s.23(5)). GOV.UK advises that it is usually simpler to ask for approval before the final order, because asking afterwards may have financial consequences, particularly for pensions.

For an agreed order there is usually no hearing. You send the signed draft order, a D81 statement of information and a Form A with the £62 court fee, and a judge approves it on the papers if it looks fair, or asks you to change it (GOV.UK). Our guide to how much a financial order costs covers the rest of the spending.

Clean break order: frequently asked questions

General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.