A clean break order ends the financial relationship between divorcing spouses for good: once made, neither can bring maintenance, capital, pension or estate claims against the other again. Without one, those claims stay open indefinitely — through inheritances, business success and lottery wins alike. This guide explains what a clean break order covers, the types available, what one costs, and the risks of divorcing without one.
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Ending the Money Relationship, Not Just the Marriage
Divorce ends your legal status as spouses; it leaves every financial claim between you alive. A clean break order is the instrument that closes them — a court order dismissing both parties' future claims so that each walks away financially independent. Courts are required to consider whether a clean break is appropriate in every case, and favour one wherever fairness allows.
A clean break order dismisses both ex-spouses' claims to maintenance, lump sums, property adjustment, pension sharing and against each other's estates. It is made by consent (£62 court fee) or after contested proceedings, usually as part of the overall settlement. It cannot touch child maintenance, which always remains open.
What a Clean Break Order Does
The order operates by dismissal: the claims each spouse could make under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 are formally dismissed, and — critically — so is each party's right to claim against the other's estate on death. After a clean break, your ex-spouse has no more claim on your future earnings, windfalls or growth than a stranger does. That finality is why courts see it as serving both parties' interests where circumstances permit.
The Child Maintenance Carve-Out
No order between adults can bargain away children's support. Child maintenance runs through the Child Maintenance Service formula regardless of any clean break, and a consent order's child maintenance terms only exclude the CMS for their first year. A "full" clean break is therefore between the adults; the children's claims are untouchable.
Immediate and Deferred Clean Breaks
An immediate clean break ends everything from the order's date — typical where both parties earn, the capital split settles matters, and no ongoing support is needed. A deferred clean break runs spousal maintenance for a fixed term — while children are young or a career is rebuilt — and dismisses claims when the term ends. Whether the term is extendable or absolutely barred (a section 28(1A) bar) is a drafting decision with real consequences: get it deliberate, not accidental.
What the Order Typically Contains
- The capital division: property transfer or sale, lump sums, contents
- Pension sharing or offsetting provisions
- Dismissal of both parties' income and capital claims, each way
- Dismissal of claims against each other's estates under the Inheritance Act
- Any deferred maintenance term, with its end mechanism spelled out
How You Get One
Most clean breaks are made by consent: you agree the division — directly, through solicitors or in mediation — exchange financial disclosure, and lodge a draft consent order with a statement of information after the conditional order stage of the divorce. A judge approves it on paper if it is fair. Where agreement fails, a clean break can be imposed at the end of contested financial remedy proceedings — vastly more expensive, which is why disclosure-backed negotiation earns its keep.
What a Clean Break Costs
The court fee for a consent order is £62 (from 13 July 2026). Solicitor costs for drafting and advice vary with complexity — we quote fixed fees for agreed clean breaks — and for hourly-rate comparisons the guideline hourly rates give the court-recognised benchmarks. Contested proceedings are a different economic universe: Form A issues at £321 and costs scale with every hearing, another argument for settling if settlement is fair.
The Risks of Divorcing Without One
Claims left open have no expiry. The classic cautionary tale is the Supreme Court's decision in Wyatt v Vince, allowing a former wife's claim to proceed nineteen years after the divorce, against wealth built entirely afterwards. Inheritance, a business that comes good, remarriage's asymmetric trap — remarrying bars your claims but not your ex's against you — all sit in that open door. Advice from Citizens Advice covers the basics; for anything with assets at stake, a drafted order is the answer. Our financial obligations guide maps everything that stays open without one.
Frequently askedQuestions about clean break orders
What is a clean break order in a divorce?
A court order dismissing both ex-spouses' future financial claims against each other — maintenance, lump sums, property, pensions and estate claims — so each becomes financially independent. It is the only way to make a divorce financially final.
How much does a clean break order cost?
The court fee is £62 for a consent order, plus drafting costs — agreed clean breaks are commonly done on fixed fees. A contested route through financial remedy proceedings starts with a £321 Form A fee and rises steeply with each stage.
Is a clean break order the same as a consent order?
A consent order is the vehicle; a clean break is what it can contain. Every agreed clean break arrives as a consent order, but a consent order can instead provide ongoing maintenance without a clean break. The dismissal clauses are what make it a clean break.
Does a clean break order cover child maintenance?
No. Child maintenance can never be dismissed — it runs under the CMS formula whatever the adults agree, and consent order terms about it only hold the CMS off for a year. A clean break ends the adults' claims against each other only.
Can my ex claim my inheritance years after our divorce?
If no clean break was ordered, yes — the claims have no time limit, and courts have allowed them long after separation. Once a clean break order is made, future inheritances, windfalls and earnings are beyond your ex-spouse's reach.
Tell us what you have agreed and what each of you holds. We will draft the clean break that makes it final, or tell you honestly if a deferred structure fits better.
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