Do I need to wait until a financial settlement is reached in court before I can submit the Decree Absolut?
The general advice is yes wait until you have a court approved
Consent Order before you ask for the Absolute, often it depends if pensions need to be shared, for many it makes no difference.
And also, if I can get him to come to his senses and we can somehow agree on a financial settlement without going to court, does this settlement still need to be approved by a judge? If so, what is the process for that and could the judge disagree with our agreement and mandate a different settlement?
Yes it does because without it the agreement cannot be enforced, its just an informal agreement,the most a judge can do when considering the proposed order is advise or refuse to stamp it to make it binding, most orders are stamped without question.
Finally, just out of curiosity, why don''t any divorce solicitors agree to work for a percentage of the settlement amount rather than an upfront fee? In many cases including my own, it would seem that the solicitor would stand to make a lot of money upon a successful settlement. This would appeal to many people who can''t afford the up front legal cost, but who are likely to receive a sizable financial settlement.
Ive read a fair few questions but this is a first, i`m not a solicitor so i can`t really answer, the best guess would be that practices cannot gamble in this way, they need to make a certain amount of money, if they don`t its job center time.
