Clean break order

A clean break order is a financial order made on divorce or dissolution in England and Wales that ends the financial obligations of each former spouse or civil partner to the other, so that neither can make a further claim against the other’s income, capital, pension or estate. The term comes from section 25A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which places the court under a duty, whenever it makes a financial order after a divorce, “to consider whether it would be appropriate so to exercise those powers that the financial obligations of each party towards the other will be terminated as soon after the making of the order as the court considers just and reasonable”.[1] A clean break is not a separate kind of order; it is achieved by dismissing each party’s claims within a consent order or a final order after contested proceedings.[1][2]

Divorce itself does not end financial claims. The Supreme Court held in Wyatt v Vince that “there is no time-limit for seeking orders for financial provision or property adjustment for the benefit of a spouse following divorce”, allowing a claim issued nineteen years after the decree absolute to proceed.[3] A clean break can be immediate or deferred to the end of a term of maintenance, and can cover capital alone or capital and income together.[1][4] A clean break order does not affect child maintenance, which the Child Support Act 1991 places largely outside the court’s control, and it does not undo a pension sharing order already made.[5][6] Where the parties agree, a clean break order is applied for on the papers with a £62 court fee.[7][8]

Written by Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy at Mediate UK and Associate Member of Resolution. Reviewed by Belinda Atkins, Managing Director of Mediate UK. Last reviewed 6 September 2026; last updated 6 September 2026; next scheduled review March 2027.

Definition and purpose

The principle was named by the House of Lords in Minton v Minton [1979] AC 593, which held that once a wife’s claims had been dealt with on their merits and dismissed, the court had no continuing jurisdiction to revive them. Lord Scarman described the policy: “the law now encourages spouses to avoid bitterness after family break-down and to settle their money and property problems”, so that each could put the past behind them and begin a new life not overshadowed by the relationship that had broken down.[9] The report of the case is not freely available online and the summary relied on here is a secondary source.

In practice a clean break has two elements. The first is the disposal of all live claims: the order deals with the home, savings, pensions and any lump sum, and then dismisses each party’s claims for periodical payments, secured periodical payments, lump sums, property adjustment and pension sharing, so that nothing remains to be decided.[10][1] The second is a bar on future applications: a direction under section 28(1A) that a party may not apply to extend a term of maintenance, and an order under section 15 of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 that neither party may apply against the other’s estate on death.[4][11] Together these mean that, apart from enforcing what the order says, the parties’ financial relationship is at an end.

The purpose is finality. A clean break lets each party plan on the basis that a later inheritance, promotion, business success or lottery win cannot be claimed by the other, and it removes the possibility of a former spouse returning to court many years after the divorce.[3][9] It is the usual outcome where both parties can support themselves, where the marriage was short, or where the capital division is enough to meet the weaker party’s needs without ongoing support.[1]

Section 25A(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 requires the court, whenever it exercises its financial powers in favour of a party after a divorce or nullity order, to consider whether to terminate the parties’ obligations to each other “as soon after the making of the order as the court considers just and reasonable”.[1] Section 25A(2) adds that where the court does make a periodical payments order it must consider limiting it to a term “sufficient to enable the party in whose favour the order is made to adjust without undue hardship to the termination of his or her financial dependence on the other party”.[1] Section 25A(3) allows the court, where it considers that no continuing obligation should be imposed on either party, to dismiss an application for periodical payments with a direction that the applicant “shall not be entitled to make any further application” for one.[1]

The duty is one to consider, not to impose. The court must still apply section 25, giving first consideration to the welfare of any minor child of the family and having regard to each party’s resources, needs, standard of living, age, contributions and the other listed factors; a clean break that leaves one party unable to meet their needs is not an order the court should make.[12] The same provisions apply to civil partners through Schedule 5 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and rule 9.26 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 governs the consent order procedure by which most clean breaks are obtained.[13]

Two further provisions give a clean break its permanence. Under section 31 only certain orders can be varied after they are made: periodical payments, lump sums by instalments and a few others. Lump sums, property adjustment orders and pension sharing orders that have taken effect are not variable, and a dismissal of claims is not an order that can be varied at all.[14] Under section 28(1A) the court may direct that a party receiving term maintenance “shall not be entitled to apply under section 31 below for the extension of the term”, converting a term order into a deferred clean break.[4]

Capital, income and deferred clean breaks

Forms of clean break in a financial order in England and Wales
TypeWhat is dismissedWhen usedProvision
Capital clean breakClaims for lump sums, property adjustment and pension sharing, in both directionsIn almost every final order; capital orders are final once made, so the dismissal confirms the positionMCA 1973, ss.23, 24, 24B, 31[10][14]
Income clean breakClaims for periodical payments and secured periodical payments, in both directions, with no order for spousal maintenanceWhere both parties can meet their own income needs, or where capital has been adjusted so that they cans.25A(1), (3)[1]
Deferred clean breakPeriodical payments for a fixed term, with a direction that the term cannot be extended; income claims dismissed when the term endsWhere one party needs a period of support to retrain, re-enter work or see children through schools.25A(2), s.28(1A)[1][4]
Full clean breakCapital and income claims, and claims against each other’s estate under the 1975 ActThe complete form, usual in a clean break consent orders.25A; Inheritance Act 1975, s.15[1][11]

A capital clean break without an income clean break is common where one party needs ongoing maintenance: the home and pensions are divided finally, but periodical payments continue, whether for a term or for joint lives, and remain variable under section 31.[14] An income clean break without a capital clean break is unusual, because capital orders are final in any event; the phrase “clean break” in ordinary usage means the combined form in which every claim is dismissed.[1] Where a term of maintenance is ordered without a section 28(1A) bar, the recipient can apply before the term ends to extend it, and the clean break is not assured.[4]

Why a clean break matters

Without a clean break, the claims that each spouse acquires on marriage remain open indefinitely after the divorce. In Wyatt v Vince the parties had divorced in 1992 with no financial order, the court file having since been destroyed; the husband later built a wind energy business whose value exceeded £57 million, and the wife applied for a lump sum in 2011. The Supreme Court allowed her application to proceed, holding that there is no time limit and that her claim, though likely to be “comparatively modest”, had a real prospect of success.[3] The same principle applies in the other direction: a party who receives an inheritance or builds a business after the divorce is exposed to a claim unless the claims were dismissed.

Delay is relevant to the outcome of a late claim but not to the right to bring it; the passage of time, the parties’ subsequent lives and the source of any later wealth are all matters the court weighs under section 25, but the application cannot be struck out merely because it is old.[3][12] Remarriage is different: a party who remarries after the final order loses the right to apply for a financial provision or property adjustment order in their own favour under section 28(3), though the other party’s claims against them survive.[4]

A clean break also protects against a claim on death. Without an order under section 15 of the 1975 Act a former spouse who has not remarried may apply for reasonable financial provision from the other’s estate; the section 15 order, made in almost every clean break, removes that right.[11] The Ministry of Justice figures for January to March 2026 recorded 12,646 financial remedy applications against 27,320 final orders of divorce in the quarter, which indicates that a large proportion of divorcing couples obtain no financial order and therefore no clean break.[15]

What a clean break does not end

Child maintenance. A clean break is between the adults. Section 8(3) of the Child Support Act 1991 provides that no court may make, vary or revive a maintenance order for a child where the Child Maintenance Service has jurisdiction to make a calculation, subject to exceptions including an order made in the terms of a written agreement between the parents.[5] Even where child maintenance is written into a consent order by agreement, either parent may apply to the Child Maintenance Service once the order has been in force for a year, and the calculation then displaces the order.[16] See child maintenance.

Obligations under the order itself. A clean break ends future claims; it does not release a party from the lump sum, transfer, sale or undertaking the order requires. Those remain enforceable, and a lump sum payable by instalments remains variable under section 31.[14]

A pension already shared. A pension sharing order transfers a percentage of one party’s pension to the other and takes effect after the final order; the transfer is permanent and is not undone by the clean break, and the same pension cannot be the subject of a second sharing order between the same parties.[6] Nor does a clean break affect a state pension or a pension attachment order already made; see pension sharing order.

Fraud and non-disclosure. A clean break made by consent rests on the information in Form D81. Where a party obtained it by fraud or material non-disclosure, the order, clean break included, can be set aside; the Supreme Court in Sharland v Sharland held that a party who has practised deception “cannot be allowed to deny its materiality”.[17][18] The grounds are described on consent order.

The alternative: nominal maintenance

Where an income clean break is not appropriate, but no substantive maintenance is needed at present, the court may make a nominal periodical payments order, typically of 5p or £1 a year. The order has no practical value as income; its function is to keep the recipient’s income claim alive so that it can be varied upwards under section 31 if circumstances change, for example if the recipient, usually the parent with primary care of young children, becomes unable to work.[10][14] A nominal order is therefore the opposite of an income clean break, and the choice between them is one of the most common points of negotiation in a consent order.

The D81 asks the parties, where the proposed order contains an income clean break, to explain why that is fair and how each of them will meet their own income needs; where it contains a nominal order, the judge will expect the reason for keeping the claim open to be apparent from the parties’ circumstances.[18] A nominal order ends automatically on the recipient’s remarriage or formation of a civil partnership, and it can be discharged, converting the position into a clean break, on a later application or by a further consent order.[4][14] See spousal maintenance.

How a clean break order is obtained

Most clean break orders are made by consent. The parties agree the division of their assets, a draft order is prepared containing the dismissal of claims and the section 15 order, both sign it, and it is lodged with Form D81, Form A marked as by consent and the £62 fee.[13][18][7] The court cannot approve the order before the conditional order in the divorce, and GOV.UK advises applying before the final order.[8][19] A judge considers the papers, and if satisfied that the clean break is fair on the information given, seals the order without a hearing.[2][13]

Where there is little or nothing to divide, the order may consist of almost nothing but the clean break: recitals recording that the parties have already separated their finances, and the dismissals. Such an order is sometimes called a clean break consent order and is the simplest form of financial order the court makes.[20] Even here the judge must be satisfied under section 25 that the dismissal is fair, and the D81 must show both parties’ capital, income and pensions; an order that leaves one party with a large pension and the other with none, without explanation, is likely to attract queries.[12][18]

In contested financial remedy proceedings the court decides at the final hearing whether a clean break is appropriate, applying section 25A; where a term of maintenance is ordered, the court decides whether to add a section 28(1A) bar.[1][4] The practical steps for the consent route are set out by ConsentOrder.org.uk, an information site published by Family Legal Ltd, the publisher of this wiki.[20]

Cost

The court fee for a financial order by consent is £62 under fee 5.1 of the family fees order as shown in the EX50 fee list of 13 July 2026.[7] Drafting costs vary with the complexity of the order rather than with the presence of a clean break: a clean break consent order with no pensions, business assets or maintenance is at the lower end of the market, with fixed fees from around £499 including VAT for paralegal drafting in September 2026, while solicitor-drafted orders involving pension sharing cost more.[21] Legal aid for a solicitor is available only to a party who passes both the means test and the domestic abuse or child protection evidence gateway. Mediation legal aid is means-tested only.

History

Development of the clean break in England and Wales
DateDevelopment
1979Minton v Minton: the House of Lords recognised the clean break principle and held that dismissed claims could not be revived[9]
1984The Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 inserted section 25A, placing the court under a statutory duty to consider a clean break, and section 28(1A), allowing a bar on extending a term of maintenance[1][4]
1 December 2000Pension sharing became available under section 24B, making a clean break achievable where the main asset was a pension[6]
11 March 2015Wyatt v Vince: the Supreme Court confirmed that there is no time limit on financial claims after divorce where no order has been made[3]
14 October 2015Sharland and Gohil: consent orders, including clean breaks, obtained by fraudulent or material non-disclosure can be set aside[17]
18 December 2024The Law Commission’s scoping report on financial remedies set out four models for reform of the discretionary framework[22]
5 June 2026The Ministry of Justice consulted on codifying the principles of needs and sharing in statute[23]

Criticism and debate

The clean break has been criticised for bearing more heavily on the party, usually the wife, whose earning capacity was reduced by the marriage, and for encouraging term orders that end before financial independence is achieved. Section 25A(2) requires the court to be satisfied that the recipient can adjust “without undue hardship”, and the courts have repeatedly warned against imposing a term on the basis of optimism rather than evidence.[1] Against this, the finality of a clean break is widely regarded as a benefit to both parties, and the alternative of joint lives maintenance has itself been criticised as a disincentive to independence.

The Law Commission’s scoping report of 18 December 2024 examined whether the discretionary approach, including the treatment of spousal maintenance and clean breaks, should be replaced or codified, and the Ministry of Justice’s consultation between 5 June and 14 August 2026 proposed a “codification-plus” model bringing the needs and sharing principles into statute.[22][23] A change of that kind would affect how the court decides whether a clean break is fair, but not the mechanism by which it is achieved.

Getting help

Because a clean break is irreversible, it is the provision on which independent legal advice is most often recommended before signing; the D81 asks each party whether they have had advice.[18] Solicitors can be found through the Law Society and Resolution, and unregulated drafting services prepare simple clean break orders at fixed fees.[24][25]

See also

References

  1. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25A: Exercise of court’s powers in favour of party to marriage on divorce or nullity of marriage order. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  2. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 33A: Consent orders for financial provision or property adjustment. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  3. Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14. Find Case Law, The National Archives. 11 March 2015. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  4. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 28: Duration of continuing financial provision orders in favour of party to marriage, and effect of remarriage or formation of civil partnership. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  5. Child Support Act 1991, section 8: Role of the courts with respect to maintenance for children. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  6. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 24B: Pension sharing orders in connection with divorce proceedings. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  7. Family court fees (EX50). HM Courts and Tribunals Service. updated 13 July 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  8. Money and property when you divorce or separate: apply for a consent order. GOV.UK. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  9. Minton v Minton [1979] AC 593 (House of Lords): case summary. swarb.co.uk. Secondary source; the report is not freely available online. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  10. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 23: Financial provision orders in connection with divorce proceedings, etc.. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  11. Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, section 15: Restriction imposed in divorce proceedings etc. on application under this Act. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  12. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25: Matters to which court is to have regard in deciding how to exercise its powers. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  13. Family Procedure Rules 2010, rule 9.26: Applications for consent orders for financial remedy. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  14. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 31: Variation, discharge, etc., of certain orders for financial relief. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  15. Family Court Statistics Quarterly, January to March 2026. Ministry of Justice. 25 June 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  16. Child Support Act 1991, section 4: Child support maintenance. legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  17. Sharland v Sharland [2015] UKSC 60. Find Case Law, The National Archives. 14 October 2015. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  18. Provide information about the parties’ financial situation to support your application for a consent order: Form D81. HM Courts and Tribunals Service. updated 16 July 2026 (form version 04.25). Accessed 5 September 2026.
  19. Get a divorce: finalise your divorce. GOV.UK. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  20. Clean break consent order explained: a 2026 UK guide. ConsentOrder.org.uk (Family Legal Ltd). 25 June 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  21. Online clean break consent order. Family Law Service (Family Legal Ltd). Price £499 including VAT as shown on 6 September 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  22. Financial remedies scoping report and summary. Law Commission. 18 December 2024. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  23. A fairer end to relationships: consultation. Ministry of Justice. published 5 June 2026, closed 14 August 2026. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  24. Find a solicitor. The Law Society. Accessed 5 September 2026.
  25. Resolution: first for family law. Resolution. Accessed 5 September 2026.

This article is part of Divorce Law Wiki, published by Family Legal Ltd. It is general information about the law of England and Wales, not legal advice. Last reviewed 6 September 2026. About this site and editorial policy · Report an error.