The open financial statement explained
Key facts
- An open financial statement (OFS) summarises the finances both of you disclosed during mediation.
- Unlike the memorandum of understanding, the OFS is open, not confidential and not without prejudice.
- Because it is open, it can be shown to the court and to solicitors when you apply for a consent order.
- The two documents work as a pair: the memorandum records the agreement, the OFS records the figures behind it.
- The OFS is drawn from your full and frank financial disclosure.
At the end of financial mediation you usually receive two documents rather than one. Most people have heard of the memorandum of understanding. Fewer have heard of the open financial statement, even though it does an important job. This page explains what the open financial statement is, how it differs from the memorandum, and why the difference matters.
If you are new to the finances side of mediation, it helps to start with our guide to financial mediation, which sets out the whole process. This page is general information, not financial or legal advice.
What is an open financial statement?
An open financial statement is a summary of both people’s financial positions, drawn from the disclosure you each gave during mediation. It lists what you both own, owe and earn: property, pensions, savings, debts and income. It is prepared by the mediator once disclosure is complete, usually at the same time as the memorandum of understanding.
The word open is the key. It means the document is not confidential and not written on a without prejudice basis. It can be shown to third parties, including a judge and your solicitors. That is exactly what makes it useful when you come to make your agreement legally binding.
Open financial statement vs memorandum of understanding
The two documents are easy to confuse, but they do different jobs and have a different legal status. The memorandum of understanding sets out what you have agreed and is written without prejudice, so it cannot be used against either of you if the case later goes to court. The open financial statement sets out the figures and is open, so it can be produced in evidence.
| Memorandum of understanding | Open financial statement | |
|---|---|---|
| What it records | The terms you have agreed | The finances you both disclosed |
| Legal status | Without prejudice and confidential | Open, can be shown to the court |
| Can a judge see it? | Not normally | Yes, it supports the consent order |
| Purpose | Records the deal | Records the figures behind the deal |
For a fuller explanation of the first document, see our guide to the memorandum of understanding.
Why is the OFS open rather than without prejudice?
Mediation is confidential so that people can explore options and make offers without fear that a suggestion will be quoted back at them in court. That confidentiality protects the negotiation, which is why the memorandum is without prejudice. But the court still needs to see the underlying financial facts to check that any agreement is fair before approving it.
The open financial statement solves this. It carves out the financial figures from the confidential negotiation and presents them openly. The court can see what each of you had, without seeing the give and take of how you got to the deal. It keeps the negotiation private while giving the judge the facts they need.
In short
Confidential negotiation stays in the memorandum. The open figures go in the open financial statement. That split is what lets a private, without prejudice process feed into a public court order.
What does the open financial statement include?
The open financial statement is a clear summary rather than a pile of paperwork. It typically sets out, for each of you, the value of any property and the equity in it, the cash equivalent value of each pension, the balances of savings and investments, the level of income, and the debts owed. In short, it is the net financial position of both people, side by side, so the figures behind the agreement are easy to see at a glance.
It does not usually attach every bank statement or payslip. Those documents were exchanged during disclosure; the open financial statement distils them into a summary the court can read quickly. Because it is drawn straight from that disclosure, its accuracy depends on the disclosure having been full and honest.
How is the open financial statement used?
When you apply to the court to make your agreement binding, you do so through a consent order. The court will not simply rubber-stamp a deal. A judge checks that it is broadly fair, and to do that they need to see the finances. The open financial statement, often alongside a short statement of information, gives the judge that picture.
So the open financial statement is the bridge between mediation and a binding order. Your solicitor uses it, together with the memorandum, to draft the consent order and the accompanying paperwork. Because it is open, there is no problem showing it to the court, which is the whole point of preparing it as a separate document.
A worked example of the figures
It is easier to picture the open financial statement with numbers. Imagine a couple with a home worth £300,000 and a £120,000 mortgage, so £180,000 of equity. One of them has a pension with a CETV of £90,000 and £10,000 in savings; the other has a pension of £15,000 and £4,000 in savings. Between them they owe about £6,000 on cards. An open financial statement would set those figures out side by side and show a net total of roughly £293,000 for the family.
What it would not do is say how that total should be divided. That is the job of the memorandum of understanding. The open statement simply records what there is. Seeing the numbers laid out often changes the conversation, because in this example the pensions together are worth more than the cash in the bank, which is easy to overlook. The statement is drawn straight from full and frank financial disclosure, so nothing is missed.
Where the open financial statement fits in the process
The open statement is one link in a short chain that turns a private conversation into a binding order. The table shows how the documents follow on from each other.
| Stage | Document |
|---|---|
| Disclosure | Full and frank financial disclosure by both of you |
| Agreement | The memorandum of understanding, written without prejudice |
| The figures | The open financial statement, drawn from disclosure |
| The application | A consent order drafted by a solicitor |
| Statement of information | A Form D81 summarising the finances for the judge |
| Approval | A judge checks the order is fair and seals it |
The memorandum stays without prejudice and is not filed at court. The open financial statement and the Form D81 are open, so they can be shown to the judge who approves your consent order. The open statement and the D81 do a similar job, and the figures in one feed the other.
When you apply for a consent order, the Family Procedure Rules require a statement of information to be filed so the court can decide whether the agreement is fair. In practice this is Form D81, which summarises each person’s property, income, pensions and future plans. The open financial statement produced in mediation provides the figures that go into it. The memorandum of understanding stays without prejudice and is not filed, while the open financial statement and the D81 are open to the court.
What if the figures change before the order is made?
The open financial statement is only as accurate as the disclosure behind it. If a value was wrong or something was left out, the statement will be wrong too, which is one more reason disclosure needs to be complete and honest. If a settlement were later challenged for non-disclosure, the figures in the open statement would be part of the picture the court looked at.
Finances can also move between finishing mediation and applying to court. Small changes, such as a savings balance shifting by a little, do not usually matter. A larger change, such as a redundancy or a big shift in a pension value, may mean the figures need updating before the order is made, so the court is working from a current picture.
Why you end up with two documents
It can feel odd to leave mediation holding two documents that overlap. The reason is the different jobs they do. The memorandum of understanding captures the human agreement, the give and take, and stays private so people can speak freely. The open financial statement captures the cold figures, and is open so a judge can check the deal is fair. Keeping them separate is what allows a confidential process to feed into a public court order.
Without this split, you would face an awkward choice. Either the whole negotiation would have to be shown to the court, which would discourage honest discussion, or the court would have to approve a deal without seeing the finances, which it will not do. The two-document approach solves both problems at once.
Keeping the statement accurate
Because so much rests on it, the open financial statement is worth reading carefully before you sign anything based on it. Check that every account, pension and debt you disclosed appears, that the values match your paperwork, and that nothing has been left out. If you spot an error, tell the mediator so it can be corrected. A clean, accurate statement makes the consent order stage smoother and reduces the chance of questions from the court.
Do you have to accept the figures?
The open financial statement records what was disclosed, not what you must agree to. If you think a value is wrong, or that something is missing, you can raise it before any agreement is finalised. The statement is a tool for making informed decisions, not a verdict. Once you are satisfied the figures are right, working from a single agreed statement removes a lot of the uncertainty that makes financial settlements stressful.
Some couples find it helpful to take the draft open financial statement to a solicitor for a short advice session before signing a memorandum. The solicitor can sense-check the figures and the proposed split, which adds a layer of reassurance without turning the process into a court case.
When Dan and Sofia finished mediation they were surprised to be handed two documents. Their mediator explained that the memorandum, marked without prejudice, recorded what they had agreed and would stay private. The open financial statement listed their house, pensions, savings and the small loan they still owed, and could be shown to the judge. When their solicitor applied for a clean break consent order, the open statement gave the court the figures it needed to approve the deal, while the detail of how they had negotiated stayed confidential.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the memorandum and the open financial statement?
The memorandum records what you agreed and is confidential and without prejudice. The open financial statement records the finances you disclosed and is open, so it can be shown to the court when you apply for a consent order.
Is the open financial statement legally binding?
No. Like the memorandum, it is not an order. It is a record of the finances. Your agreement only becomes binding when a court approves a consent order, which the open financial statement helps support.
Why is one document open and the other confidential?
Confidentiality protects the negotiation, so the memorandum is without prejudice. But the court needs the financial facts to check fairness, so those figures are set out openly in the open financial statement.
Do I need a solicitor to use these documents?
You are not required to, but most people ask a solicitor to turn the memorandum and open financial statement into a consent order, so that the agreement is properly drafted and made binding by the court.
Who prepares the open financial statement?
The mediator prepares it, drawing on the disclosure you both gave during mediation, usually at the same time as the memorandum of understanding.
What is the difference between the open financial statement and Form D81?
They do a similar job. The open financial statement is prepared by the mediator to summarise your disclosed finances. Form D81 is the court’s statement of information for a consent order. The figures from the open statement feed into the D81.
What if our finances change after the statement is prepared?
Small changes usually do not matter. A significant change, such as a job loss or a large shift in a pension value, may mean the figures need updating before the consent order is made, so the court sees a current picture.
Does the open financial statement decide how everything is split?
No. It records what there is, not how it is divided. The split is set out in the memorandum of understanding and then made binding in the consent order.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Money and property when you divorce or separate, gov.uk. Accessed 9 July 2026.
- GOV.UK, Apply for a consent order, gov.uk. Accessed 9 July 2026.
- Family Mediation Council, What is family mediation?, familymediationcouncil.org.uk. Accessed 9 July 2026.