You hit submit on the portal. Then nothing. No hearing date, no letter, no phone call, just a file sitting somewhere in a court registry while you refresh the page and wonder whether you have done something wrong.
You have not. Here is the plain answer. Most consent orders are sealed about six to eight weeks after filing. When the orders are clear, complete and fair, it can be as quick as two to four weeks. What stretches it out is almost always the same thing: the court comes back with a question about your paperwork.
This page is about the last stage only, the wait between filing and the sealed orders landing in your portal, not the full journey from first conversation to final orders.
A note on scope. This is written for New South Wales, and for applications filed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. The state-based points further down, like the transfer duty exemption, are the New South Wales position, so check your own state or territory if you filed elsewhere.
What the court is actually doing while you wait
Nobody is sitting on your file. Your application is listed and considered by a Registrar, on the papers, in chambers. You are not required to attend court unless the Registrar asks you to.
The Registrar is not rubber-stamping your agreement either. Even though you both agreed, the court can only make the orders if they meet the standard the Family Law Act sets. For property, the orders have to be just and equitable (section 79 for married couples, section 90SM for de facto couples). For children, they have to be in the child’s best interests (section 60CC).
So the Registrar reads your proposed orders and asks one question: can I tell exactly what has been agreed, and does it stack up? Three ways that ends. Your application is granted. You are emailed and asked for more information or amended documents. Or it is dismissed. The court’s guide to applying for consent orders sets out the whole process.
That is why clear, complete orders seal faster. Less to query.
The sealed copy you got on day one is not your sealed orders
This is where a lot of people get caught out.
When you eFile an Application for Consent Orders, you can go straight into the Commonwealth Courts Portal and print a sealed copy. That copy is your application, stamped as accepted for filing. It proves the court has your documents. It is not your orders.
Your sealed orders are a different document, and they only exist once a Registrar has granted the application. So if there is a sealed PDF sitting in your portal and nothing has happened since, you have not been forgotten. You are still in the queue.
What actually moves the timeline
Three things, in rough order of how often they cause a delay. All three are inside your control.
How clear and complete the orders are. Vague wording is the number one cause of a requisition. If the Registrar cannot work out who does what and by when, they have to ask.
Whether you exchanged full and frank disclosure. You both have a duty to lay out what you own and what you owe. Where the numbers in the application do not line up with the story the orders tell, that draws a query.
Superannuation. If you are splitting super, you have to give the trustee of the fund written notice at least 28 days before you file. That notice sets out the orders you will seek and tells the trustee they can object, in writing, within 28 days of receiving it. If no objection comes back, you can file, and you file the trustee’s correspondence confirming that along with proof of the current value of the interest.
If you skip notifying the super trustee, the court can’t just approve the orders, because the trustee hasn’t had a chance to have a look at it and see how it’s going to affect them. It’s a small but critical step that catches out a lot of people. Always send the draft to the super fund before filing your consent orders, and attach their confirmation when you submit it.
Does the wait vary from one registry to another?
Some, and there is nothing you can do about it. Sealing is a paper process reviewed in chambers, so you are not waiting on a hearing date or a courtroom. You are waiting on how many files are ahead of yours in the registry where you filed. Two people who lodged in the same week, in different registries, can get their sealed orders at different times for no reason connected to their agreement.
Which is a good argument for spending your effort on the three factors you can control.
How to avoid a requisition in the first place
Get those three right before you file and you give yourself the fast version of this process.
If your orders are clear, detailed and fair, the court will usually go without a hearing, and it could all be over between two to four weeks. If there’s an issue, they’re going to come back to you with revisions, and this could of course delay things.
Clear, detailed and fair means something specific. Every order should be able to be read by a stranger who then knows exactly what has to happen, who has to do it, and by when. If a clause needs you in the room to explain it, it is not finished.
Vague versus court-ready: what the difference looks like
One pattern draws a requisition more often than any other: a clause that describes an intention instead of an action.
| What people write | Why it draws a query | Court-ready version |
|---|---|---|
| “The husband will transfer his interest in the property to the wife.” | No address. No deadline. Nothing about the mortgage or who pays the costs of the transfer. The Registrar cannot tell what has to happen or when. | “Within 60 days of these orders, the husband will transfer to the wife all of his right, title and interest in the property at [full address]. The wife will be solely responsible for the mortgage from settlement and for all costs of the transfer.” |
Same agreement either way. One version gets read once. The other gets sent back.
What the Registrar is looking for in every clause is a deadline and a number. “A fair share” is not something a court can enforce. “$47,500 within 30 days of settlement” is.
What a requisition is, and what to do if you get one
A requisition is the court’s written request for more information or a correction. It arrives by email from the registry. It is not a rejection, and it is not a sign the Registrar disagrees with your agreement. Usually it is asking you to say something more precisely than you said it.
What to do:
- Read it carefully and work out exactly what is being asked. Requisitions are usually narrow.
- Fix only what is asked. Re-opening a settled term at this point invites another round.
- Get both signatures again if the wording of an order has changed.
- Resubmit promptly. How much time a requisition adds is mostly down to how fast you turn it around, and it stretches out badly when the response sits with one party for weeks before it comes back.
What to do if it feels stuck
Work through it in this order before you assume something has gone wrong.
- Confirm the filing was accepted. Log into the Commonwealth Courts Portal and check the application appears under Documents Filed with a file number. If you were not emailed a file number, it may not have been accepted.
- Check for a requisition. Look at the portal and at your email, including the junk folder. A requisition that has been sitting unread for three weeks is the most common cause of a “stuck” file.
- Then follow up with the registry. The court’s own guide to applying for consent orders says you can email the registry where the application was filed, using the registry name followed by @fcfcoa.gov.au, and gives [email protected] as its example. It also asks you to give your full name, date of birth, the other party’s name and your file number.
Chasing the registry in week two will not speed anything up. Chasing it in week ten, when you have confirmed there is no outstanding requisition, is fair enough.
How you will know it has been sealed
Once the Registrar grants your application, the sealed orders become available to download from the Commonwealth Courts Portal. Log in, go to Documents Filed, and download the PDF.
Save that PDF somewhere you will still find it in five years. You will need it again: for a bank, for a conveyancer, for a super fund, and possibly for a court if the other side stops doing what they agreed to.
Before you file: the numbers and the deadlines
A short list of the things people get wrong at the front end, which then cost them weeks at the back end.
- The filing fee is $215 for an Application for Consent Orders, effective from 1 July 2026 (current court fees). If you hold certain government concession cards or you can demonstrate financial hardship, you may be eligible to apply for an exemption from the fee rather than a reduced rate.
- The clock starts ticking on your right to apply. You should file within 12 months of a divorce becoming final, or within two years of a de facto relationship ending. File outside that window and you need the court’s leave first, which means asking for it as the first order in your application (section 44 of the Family Law Act).
- Superannuation needs 28 days notice to the trustee before you file, with their response and proof of the current value filed alongside your application.
What a sealed order actually lets you do
This is why the wait is worth it, and why I call consent orders the holy grail of family law settlements.
Sealed orders are final and enforceable. They carry the same weight as orders a judge made after a contested hearing. If your ex stops doing what they agreed to, you have something a court can act on rather than an argument about what was said.
They also unlock the practical steps you are probably waiting on. In New South Wales, transfers of property between separating couples can be exempt from transfer duty when the transfer happens because the relationship broke down (Revenue NSW exemptions and concessions). Revenue NSW wants evidence of that, and the consent orders are the document normally provided and accepted for it. Your conveyancer will ask for the sealed copy. So will your bank, and so will a super fund giving effect to a split.
If sealing is the last step before a property settlement actually happens, line up your conveyancer and your lender now, while you wait. The moment the PDF appears, you want to be ready to use it.
If you want a second set of eyes before you file
Most of the delay in this process is avoidable, and it is almost always created before the application is lodged rather than after. If you have drafted orders yourself and you want someone to read them the way a Registrar will, book in a chat with me and my team. It is a free discovery call, no pressure and no obligation, just an honest read on whether your orders are going to sail through or come straight back. Call 1300 614 732, or send us a message and we will take a look.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long for a consent order to be sealed?
Usually about six to eight weeks after filing. Where the orders are clear, complete and fair, it can be as quick as two to four weeks, because a Registrar reviews the application on the papers without a hearing. A requisition, meaning a request for more information, adds time on top.
What is a requisition and how much time does it add?
A requisition is the court’s written request for more information or an amended document. It is not a rejection. How much time it adds depends mostly on how quickly you respond, fix exactly what was asked and resubmit. Leaving it unanswered for weeks is what turns a short delay into a long one.
How do I know when my consent order has been sealed?
Once the Registrar grants the application, the sealed orders become available to download from the Commonwealth Courts Portal under Documents Filed. Note that the sealed copy you could print right after filing is your application, not your orders. They are two different documents.
How can I speed up the sealing of my consent orders?
Give the Registrar nothing to query. Put a date on every order, a number on every amount, and a named asset on every transfer. Exchange full and frank disclosure. If you are splitting superannuation, give the trustee at least 28 days written notice before you file and attach their response.
How much does it cost to file an application for consent orders?
The court filing fee is $215, effective from 1 July 2026. If you hold certain government concession cards or you can demonstrate financial hardship, you may be eligible to apply for an exemption from the fee. Legal fees for drafting the orders are separate and depend on how complex the agreement is.
Is there a time limit to apply for consent orders?
Yes. You should file within 12 months of a divorce becoming final, or within two years of a de facto relationship ending. Outside that window you need the court’s leave to apply, which you request as the first order sought in the application, under section 44 of the Family Law Act.
