If you’ve reached an agreement with your former partner, congratulations, that’s genuinely the toughest part of the process, and you’ve come through it.
You might be keen to finalise your property division and put your parenting arrangements into effect quickly. But rushing this next step is exactly where things tend to go wrong. A verbal agreement, or even a friendly written arrangement between the two of you, isn’t legally binding on its own.
Without a consent order, either of you can walk away from what you agreed to at any point, and years later, your former partner could still make a fresh claim against your property or superannuation.
Handled properly, formalising your agreement through consent orders is a straightforward step, and a genuinely worthwhile investment given how little it costs relative to what’s actually at stake. Below, our family lawyers explain what a consent order actually is, how the application process works, and the details people most often get wrong.
What Is a Consent Order in Family Law?
A consent order is a written agreement between separated parties that has been formally approved and made legally binding by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
If both parties have reached agreement about parenting, financial or property matters, you can ask the court to make orders by consent, turning what would otherwise be an informal handshake deal into a court order with the same legal force as if a judge had made it after a full hearing.
Consent orders can cover parenting arrangements, property and financial settlements, or spousal maintenance, and they can also be used to vary or discharge existing orders that no longer reflect your circumstances. For more detail on the basics, see our companion guide on what a consent order actually is.
Importantly, applying for consent orders happens without going to court in the traditional sense. There’s no hearing, no appearing before a judge, the application is dealt with administratively by a registrar reviewing your paperwork, provided everything has been prepared correctly.
Why Bother With Consent Orders At All?
This is the question we hear most often, usually from couples who’ve already agreed on everything and don’t see the point of paying for more legal work.
Without a consent order, an informal agreement offers very little real protection. Either party can change their mind. If a dispute arises later, proving what was actually agreed becomes your word against theirs.
And critically, without formal orders, your former partner can potentially bring a fresh property or maintenance claim well after you both believed things were settled, since informal agreements don’t extinguish those legal rights the way a court order does.
Once approved, consent orders are legally binding, and orders can only be changed in limited circumstances afterward, which is exactly the certainty most separating couples are actually looking for.
How Do You Apply for Consent Orders?
The application for consent orders process involves preparing and filing two key documents: the Application for Consent Orders form itself, and a signed copy of the orders you’re actually asking the court to make, known as the proposed orders, or Minute of Consent Orders.
Both parties need to reach agreement first, then set out each order sought in a separate, numbered paragraph. Financial or property orders and parenting orders can be included in the same application if needed.
If you’re seeking a superannuation splitting order alongside your property orders, there are additional specific requirements, including notifying the relevant superannuation fund trustee, so it’s worth getting advice early if superannuation forms part of your property settlement.
Applications are generally filed electronically through the Commonwealth Courts Portal. If you’re unable to eFile, you can file the original along with photocopies at a registry instead. A filing fee applies, though a reduced fee or exemption may be available if you hold certain government concession cards or can demonstrate genuine financial hardship.
7 Common Things You Should Know About Consent Orders
1. Does a Consent Order Need to Be Approved by the Court?
Yes, and this is a step people sometimes misunderstand. Reaching an agreement with your former partner isn’t the end of the process, the court still has to actually approve it before it becomes a binding consent order.
For parenting matters, the court must be satisfied that the orders sought are in the best interests of the children. For financial or property orders, the court must be satisfied the proposed division is just and equitable.
The court isn’t simply rubber-stamping whatever two people agree to, if a registrar has concerns about fairness, disclosure, or a child’s best interests, they can ask for more information or decline to make the orders as proposed.
2. Advantages of Getting Consent Orders
Beyond the core legal certainty, there are practical reasons most family lawyers strongly recommend formalising an agreement this way rather than relying on an informal arrangement.
Consent orders avoid the cost, stress and delay of full court proceedings, since there’s no need to attend court or argue your case before a judge. They give both parties genuine closure and finality, reducing the risk of future disputes.
They’re enforceable, meaning if your former partner later fails to comply, you have real legal recourse, something an informal agreement simply doesn’t offer. And because the process is administrative rather than adversarial, it’s typically far more cost effective and time efficient than litigated property or parenting proceedings.
3. Where Can You Get Legal Advice?
Before filing, it’s worth understanding exactly what you’re agreeing to, since consent orders are difficult to change once they’re made.
The Family Relationship Advice Line can provide limited free legal advice and information about services available for family relationship issues.
Legal Aid Commissions and Community Legal Centres also offer free or low-cost advice depending on your circumstances and eligibility. It’s worth noting the court itself cannot refer you to a private lawyer, so if you want tailored advice on your specific agreement, contacting a family lawyer directly, or your state or territory law society, is the way to go.
Getting independent legal advice before you sign is particularly important if there’s any imbalance in bargaining power between you and your former partner, including situations involving family violence, since a registrar reviewing your application will also be alert to whether the agreement appears genuinely fair to both parties.
If you’re still deciding whether to seek legal advice at all before agreement and applying for consent orders, our short answer is: always do it, even a single review appointment can catch a costly drafting error before the court to file your application actually happens.
4. Consent Orders vs Binding Financial Agreements
There are really only two ways to establish a binding agreement for property division after separation, a consent order, or a Binding Financial Agreement.
Consent orders are typically the preferred route. They’re generally less complicated to put in place, and because a registrar reviews them before they’re made, they’re checked to reflect a just and equitable outcome as a built-in part of the process.
A Binding Financial Agreement, by contrast, is a private contract between the parties that isn’t reviewed by the court at all, which is why the law requires each party to receive independent legal advice before signing one, a formal requirement that doesn’t technically apply to consent orders in the same way.
That said, just because independent advice isn’t legally mandated for consent orders doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to skip it, understanding exactly what you’re agreeing to still matters enormously either way.
5. Stamp Duty Exemptions on Property Transfers
This is one of the most overlooked financial benefits of formalising your agreement properly, and it can mean a genuinely substantial saving.
If your property settlement involves transferring a property, or a share in one, from one party to the other, that transfer can be exempt from transfer (stamp) duty, provided it’s carried out under a sealed consent order or a Binding Financial Agreement made under the Family Law Act.
Without formal orders in place, that exemption doesn’t apply, meaning the party receiving the property is generally liable for ordinary transfer duty on the value or share being transferred, calculated the same way as any other property purchase.
Depending on the property’s value, that’s a substantial amount of money that a properly drafted consent order can help you avoid entirely.
6. What Happens If You Don’t Get Consent Orders?
Circumstances change after separation. Both parties may re-partner, relocate, or start managing their finances entirely independently of one another.
Without consent orders in place, those changes can create real exposure.
A shift in either person’s circumstances can motivate a former partner to revisit parenting arrangements, or to bring a fresh claim for further financial division, well after you both believed things were settled.
Formalising your agreement removes this risk, since once consent orders are made, they can generally only be changed in limited, specific circumstances, not simply because one party’s situation has since changed.
7. Can You File Consent Orders Without a Solicitor?
Technically, yes. The application forms themselves are freely available online, and nothing legally stops you from completing and filing them yourself.
In practice, we don’t recommend it. Drafting the orders themselves, known as the Minute of Consent Orders, requires precision, since poorly drafted terms can leave gaps that cause real problems years later, or fail to adequately protect your interests in the first place.
A family law solicitor’s involvement is typically a modest cost relative to the property and arrangements at stake, which is exactly why it’s considered a worthwhile investment rather than an expense to avoid.
A few grounding points are worth keeping in mind as you go through the process of preparing, filing, and consent orders to be made by the court.
A financial order, a parenting consent order, or a combination of both can all be sought in the one application. When entering into consent orders, both parties are effectively agreeing on property, or agreement on property and parenting matters together, and asking the court to make a consent order reflecting exactly what’s been agreed.
Filing consent orders doesn’t happen automatically once you and your former partner reach an agreement, you still need to apply to the court, and the court will consider the orders you want made before deciding whether to approve them.
Consent orders must set out clearly what orders you’re seeking, and a proposed consent orders document needs to be precise, since the court cannot make orders that aren’t clearly and properly sought in the application.
When preparing consent orders, it helps to get advice early, since a poorly drafted consent order application can be rejected or sent back for amendment, delaying when your orders are made.
If your matter involves a financial agreement as well as consent orders, it’s worth understanding the difference, a financial agreement (sometimes called a Binding Financial Agreement) is a private contract between the parties, while property and financial orders by consent are made directly by the court and generally offer stronger enforceability.
Financial consent orders and parenting consent orders are assessed differently, financial and parenting matters both require the court to be satisfied of different things before it will approve consent orders and make the orders binding.
Once you’re ready to apply to the court, you’ll need to seek leave of the court if you’ve missed the relevant time limit, otherwise the application for consent orders must simply be complete, signed, and filed correctly.
After that, provided the court is satisfied the agreement is fair, orders made by the federal circuit and family court are legally binding from the date they’re made, and consent orders can include almost anything the parties have agreed on, provided it falls within the type of matter (parenting, property, or maintenance) the court has power to deal with.
If you’re unsure whether you need to attend court, in most cases you won’t. The vast majority of applications are approved without either party being required to attend court, since the process is designed as an alternative to going to court, not a shortcut through it, and there’s rarely a need to go to court in person at all.
Our family law team can assist you with your consent orders from the first draft through to the moment the orders are made.
To put it simply, once you obtain consent orders approved by a court, provide orders are legally binding from that point forward, the order is made, and division of property, parenting arrangements, or both take effect exactly as agreed.
Consent orders without proper drafting can still be rejected, so it’s worth taking the time to get the information that the court needs right the first time, rather than assuming the court will make consent orders on any wording you submit.
In family law matters generally, the court can only make orders you ask for clearly, it won’t rewrite or improve a poorly drafted agreement on your behalf, and while the court want the court to make orders that are genuinely fair, consent orders include only what’s properly and clearly sought within the application.
Whatever the matter, consent orders can provide certainty once you approve the consent process is complete, and applying to the court doesn’t need to be complicated when you know what to expect.
Get Help With Your Consent Orders
Whether you and your former partner have already reached an agreement or you’re still working through the details, getting the paperwork right the first time avoids unnecessary delays.
Our team at Collective Family Law Group offers a family law consultation free of charge, giving you access to some of the best family lawyers Gold Coast has to offer. We can help you prepare, review, or negotiate your consent orders, whether your matter involves property settlement, parenting arrangements, or both. Contact us today to arrange a consultation.
This article is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. For guidance specific to your circumstances, speak with a family lawyer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of consent orders?
The purpose of a consent order is to turn an informal agreement between separated parties into a legally binding, enforceable court order, without needing a full court hearing. In any property and financial matter consent orders can provide the certainty parties need, since the order made reflects what was actually agreed, protecting against future disputes or fresh claims, and making the agreement enforceable if either party later fails to comply with what was agreed.
What are the four types of consent?
There isn’t a formal legal doctrine called “the four types of consent” specific to family law consent orders. What consent orders can actually address generally falls into four broad categories: parenting arrangements, property and financial settlements, spousal maintenance, and orders to vary or discharge existing court orders. A single application can often cover more than one of these categories at once.
Does a consent order need to be approved by the court?
Yes. Even where both parties fully agree, the application for consent orders still needs to be reviewed and approved by a registrar of the Federal Circuit and Family Court. For parenting matters, the court checks the orders are in the child’s best interests, and for financial or property matters, that the division is just and equitable, before the agreement becomes a binding order.
What is the legal definition of consent?
In the context of family law consent orders, consent refers to both parties freely and genuinely agreeing to the specific orders being proposed, without duress, undue pressure, or a significant imbalance in bargaining power. Genuine consent, along with full and honest financial disclosure between the parties, is part of what the court considers when deciding whether to approve an agreement and make it a binding order.
