Consent orders

For both children's and financial matters, parties can reach an agreement outside the court yet still wish for their agreement to be legally binding. In these circumstances, the parties will make an application to the court for consent orders. The court will make orders reflecting the terms agreed upon between the parties. These orders will be legally binding.

Strictly speaking, financial agreements are a form of consent orders. They can be entered into before, during or after a marriage or de facto relationship. However, given that they are used in very specific circumstances, they have been covered separately in Financial Agreements.

Financial agreements can be used to record an agreement in place of consent orders in financial matters.