With effect from 7 April, limited means cases can now be dealt with under the express financial remedy procedure. The details are contained in Practice Direction 36ZH which has been incorporated into the Family Procedure Rules 2010.
Scope of the pilot scheme
The scheme is for those cases where the assets are estimated to be worth approximately £250,000 or less, excluding pensions. The net assets are the total non-pension assets, less liabilities. It applies only to contested financial remedy cases and does not extend to schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989, Part III or variation applications.
The intention is that the existing three-stage procedure is compressed into a two-hearing procedure, with what would normally be the first appointment being used as a financial dispute resolution (FDR). The FDR will take place within 16-20 weeks after Form A has been issued. The final hearing will take place 26-36 weeks after issuing Form A. The intention therefore is that all cases should be concluded within approximately seven months of issue. Both hearings are to be listed upon the application being issued.
The pilot scheme does not apply across the country, but is only in operation in specified courts in the following areas (the courts being listed in PD 36ZH):
- Cheshire and Merseyside;
- Cleveland, Newcastle and Durham;
- Greater Manchester;
- Lancashire and Cumbria;
- North and West Yorkshire; and
- West Midlands.
Procedure
Form A has been modified so that it now includes a question on the second page in which the applicant can confirm whether they believe the net total assets, excluding pensions, are worth less than £250,000. In answering the question in the affirmative, the matter will be allocated to the express procedure, where the application is issued in one of the pilot courts.
Within 28 days of the Form A being issued, the parties must file and exchange fully completed Forms E with all supporting documentation. The work thereafter is intensive and front-loaded to ensure that the first hearing can be used as an FDR. It includes the following steps:
a. Within 14 days after the exchange of Forms E, the parties must comply with court requirements which include: endeavouring to agree on property valuations or jointly instructing a single joint expert or jointly obtaining three market appraisals for each property; endeavouring to agree on their mortgage capacities and agreeing on the valuation of any other relevant assets. At the same time, they must file and serve a questionnaire.
b. If the parties cannot agree on valuations, then they must jointly obtain market appraisals from three estate agents and use the average of those figures, or in the alternative instruct an appropriate single joint expert to provide a valuation report. If the parties cannot jointly obtain market appraisals, they must obtain a minimum of three appraisals between them and apply the average of those appraisals.
c. In terms of mortgage capacities, if they cannot be agreed upon, then each party must obtain a statement from a financial adviser detailing the maximum sum they could borrow, the terms of which such money can be borrowed and the monthly cost of the mortgage, to include the information upon which the figures are based.
d. 28 days after the service of questionnaires, the parties must file and serve their replies to the questionnaire and, if obtained, file a single joint expert property report, or any such other expert report which has been commissioned, together with no more than three sets of property particulars for each party in respect of their housing needs.
e. Within seven days of obtaining an expert report, questions may be put to the single joint expert and the expert must answer those questions within seven days thereafter.
f. Not less than 21 days before the FDR, the parties must file and serve their proposals for settlement, either open or on a without prejudice basis.
g. No less than 14 days before the FDR, the parties must prepare a schedule setting out the issues on which they disagree.
h. Not less than seven days before the FDR, the parties must file ES1, ES2 and a chronology.
The first hearing must be used as an FDR, unless the court considers there are good reasons not to do so. The FDR will be listed for one hour and will follow the normal format. If a settlement is not reached at the FDR, the parties must exchange open proposals for settlement not less than seven days thereafter. The parties must also comply with any further directions made at the FDR.
The matter will be listed for a final hearing with a time estimate of one day. The date of the final hearing will be fixed upon the issuing of Form A. The final hearing will take its usual format. If the judge at the FDR expresses a view that a one-day time estimate is insufficient, it can be relisted with a longer time estimate.
If either party believes that the case is not suitable for the pilot scheme, then they can make an application using Form D11 for it to be moved to the standard track procedure. Such applications should be made before the FDR.
Increase in family court fees
A separate development, with effect from 8 April 2025, is the increase in court fees. By way of an example, the fee for an application for divorce is increased to £612 (up from £593), an application for financial remedy is now £313 (up from £303), an application on notice is now £190 (up from £184) and a consent application is now £60 (up from £58).
Andrew Newbury is a partner at Hall Brown Family Law, Manchester
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