Divorced but still financially connected? Why a Final Order may not be the end

A divorce may legally end a marriage, but it does not automatically bring the parties’ financial relationship to an end. 

Unless financial arrangements are recorded in a court-approved order, a former spouse may retain the ability to make a financial claim years or even decades after the divorce was finalised. In some circumstances, unresolved financial ties may also allow a former spouse to pursue a claim against an estate after death. 

The Telegraph recently reported that 105,704 divorce orders were granted in England and Wales during 2025. However, research cited in the article suggested that only around one-third of divorcing couples use the legal system to formalise a financial settlement.  

Does the Final Order end financial claims? 

The Final Order, formerly known as the Decree Absolute, legally ends the marriage and allows both parties to remarry or enter a new civil partnership. However, the Final Order does not, by itself, dismiss financial claims arising from the marriage. Claims concerning property, savings, pensions, income and lump‑sum payments may remain open unless they have been resolved through a financial order (often a consent order) approved and sealed by the family court. 

Parties should therefore deal separately with their financial arrangements and consider applying for a financial order to record any divorce financial settlement. Where appropriate, a clean break order (usually a clean break clause within a consent order) can prevent former spouse from bringing further financial claims against the other in the future. Even where the parties have divided their property informally and consider the matter settled, a private agreement between them will not usually provide the same protection as a sealed court order. 

A claim more than 20 years after divorce 

The risks associated with failing to formalise a financial settlement were illustrated in Lin v Par [2025] EWFC 401. 

The parties had divorced more than 20 years before the financial proceedings came before the court. A draft consent order had been prepared at the time of the divorce, and the parties had acted on the basis that their financial affairs had been resolved. However, the draft order had never been approved and sealed by the court. 

The former wife was therefore able to bring a financial remedies application many years later. 

Mr Justice Peel recognised that there is no statutory limitation period preventing a former spouse from making a financial remedies application. Nevertheless, a delay of more than 20 years was highly relevant when the court considered what would be fair. 

The court concluded that the parties had reached an effective agreement and dismissed the former wife’s claims. An immediate clean break was ordered. The case nevertheless demonstrates that an apparently concluded financial settlement can return to court decades later where the necessary order was never finalised.  

The practical lesson is clear: reaching an agreement is not necessarily the end of the process. The agreement should be properly drafted, submitted to the court and approved as a financial order. 

The possibility of financial claims years after divorce is not confined to unusual cases. In the widely reported case of Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14, the Supreme Court allowed a former wife to pursue a financial claim more than two decades after the divorce because no court-approved financial settlement had ever been obtained. The case remains one of the clearest reminders that, in England and Wales, a divorce Final Order does not automatically prevent future financial claims by an ex-spouse. 

Can a former spouse claim against an estate? 

The position may become more complicated where one of the former spouses dies. Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, a former spouse who has not remarried may potentially apply for reasonable financial provision from the deceased’s estate.  

Failing to obtain an appropriate financial order may leave an estate exposed to a claim long after the divorce itself.  

Whether such a claim can be made will depend on the terms of any previous financial order, any section 15 / 1975 Act bar, and the particular circumstances of the parties. A properly drafted clean break order can include the dismissal of future financial claims between former spouses and can, where appropriate, limit claims under the Inheritance Act 1975, providing greater protection for both parties and their estates. 

However, a clean break will not be appropriate in every case. For example, where spousal maintenance is required on an ongoing basis, it may not be possible immediately to sever all financial ties, although a partial clean break may still be achievable in relation to capital. 

What happens if someone dies before the financial case is concluded? 

If a party dies before a final substantive financial remedy order has been made, the financial remedy application cannot ordinarily continue either against the deceased’s estate or for the benefit of the estate. The parties’ positions will instead depend on matters such as: 

• the existing legal and beneficial ownership of property; 

• whether property passes automatically by survivorship; 

• the terms of the deceased’s will or the intestacy rules; 

• pension or contractual death benefits; and 

• whether the surviving or former spouse can bring a claim under the Inheritance Act 1975. 

By contrast, where a financial remedy order has already been made, certain obligations under that order may be enforceable by or against the deceased’s estate, for example arrears of lump sums or maintenance that accrued before death.  

If you are interested in protecting your position post-divorce, the Chan Neill Solicitors’ Family Law team can advise on financial settlements, consent orders, clean break provisions and unresolved financial claims following divorce.