The Family Proceedings (Amendment No. 2) Rules 1999

Amendment of the Family Proceedings Rules 1991

11.  After rule 2.61 there shall be inserted:

“Application for ancillary relief

2.61A—(1) A notice of intention to proceed with an application for ancillary relief made in the petition or answer or an application for ancillary relief must be made by notice in Form A.

(2) The notice must be filed:

(a)if the case is pending in a divorce county court, in that court; or

(b)if the case is pending in the High Court, in the registry in which it is proceeding.

(3) Where the applicant requests an order for ancillary relief that includes provision to be made by virtue of section 25B or 25C of the Act of 1973(1) the terms of the order requested must be specified in the notice in Form A.

(4) Upon the filing of Form A the court must:

(a)fix a first appointment not less than 12 weeks and not more than 16 weeks after the date of the filing of the notice and give notice of that date;

(b)serve a copy on the respondent within 4 days of the date of the filing of the notice.

(5) The date fixed under paragraph (4) for the first appointment, or for any subsequent appointment, must not be cancelled except with the court’s permission and, if cancelled, the court must immediately fix a new date.

Procedure before the first appointment

2.61B—(1) Both parties must, at the same time, exchange with each other, and each file with the court, a statement in Form E, which—

(a)is signed by the party who made the statement;

(b)is sworn to be true, and

(c)contains the information and has attached to it the documents required by that Form.

(2) Form E must be exchanged and filed not less than 35 days before the date of the first appointment.

(3) Form E must have attached to it:

(a)any documents required by Form E; and

(b)any other documents necessary to explain or clarify any of the information contained in Form E.

(4) Form E must have no documents attached to it other than the documents referred to in paragraph (3).

(5) Where a party was unavoidably prevented from sending any document required by Form E, that party must at the earliest opportunity:

(a)serve copies of that document on the other party; and

(b)file a copy of that document with the court, together with a statement explaining the failure to send it with Form E.

(6) No disclosure or inspection of documents may be requested or given between the filing of the application for ancillary relief and the first appointment, except—

(a)copies sent with Form E, or in accordance with paragraph (5); or

(b)in accordance with paragraph (7).

(7) At least 14 days before the hearing of the first appointment, each party must file with the court and serve on the other party—

(a)a concise statement of the issues between the parties;

(b)a chronology;

(c)a questionnaire setting out by reference to the concise statement of issues any further information and documents requested from the other party or a statement that no information and documents are required;

(d)a notice in Form G stating whether that party will be in a position at the first appointment to proceed on that occasion to a FDR appointment.

(8) Where an order for ancillary relief is requested that includes provision to be made under section 25B or 25C of the Act of 1973, the applicant must file with the court and serve on the respondent at least 14 days before the hearing of the first appointment, confirmation that rule 2.70(4) has been complied with.

(9) At least 14 days before the hearing of the first appointment, the applicant must file with the court and serve on the respondent, confirmation of the names of all persons served in accordance with rule 2.59(3) and (4), and that there are no other persons who must be served in accordance with those paragraphs.

Expert evidence

2.61C  CPR rules 35.1 to 35.14 relating to expert evidence (with appropriate modifications), except CPR rules 35.5(2) and 35.8(4)(b) apply to all ancillary relief proceedings.

The first appointment

2.61D—(1) The first appointment must be conducted with the objective of defining the issues and saving costs.

(2) At the first appointment the district judge—

(a)must determine—

(i)the extent to which any questions seeking information under rule 2.61B must be answered; and

(ii)what documents requested under rule 2.61B must be produced,

and give directions for the production of such further documents as may be necessary;

(b)must give directions about—

(i)the valuation of assets (including, where appropriate, the joint instruction of joint experts);

(ii)obtaining and exchanging expert evidence, if required; and

(iii)evidence to be adduced by each party and, where appropriate, about further chronologies or schedules to be filed by each party;

(c)must, unless he decides that a referral is not appropriate in the circumstances, direct that the case be referred to a FDR appointment;

(d)must, where he decides that a referral to a FDR appointment is not appropriate, direct one of the following:

(i)that a further directions appointment be fixed;

(ii)that an appointment be fixed for the making of an interim order;

(iii)that the case be fixed for final hearing and, where that direction is given, the district judge must determine the judicial level at which the case should be heard; or

(iv)that the case be adjourned for out-of-court mediation or private negotiation or, in exceptional circumstances, generally;

(e)must consider whether, having regard to all the circumstances (including the extent to which each party has complied with this Part, and in particular the requirement to send documents with Form E), to make an order about the costs of the hearing; and

(f)may—

(i)make an interim order where an application for it has been made in accordance with rule 2.69F returnable at the first appointment;

(ii)having regard to the contents of Form G filed by the parties, treat the appointment (or part of it) as a FDR appointment to which rule 2.61E applies;

(iii)in a case where an order for ancillary relief is requested that includes provision to be made under section 25B or 25C of the Act of 1973, require any party to request a valuation under regulation 4 of the Divorce etc. (Pensions) Regulations 1996(2) from the trustees or managers of any pension scheme under which the party has, or is likely to have, any benefits.

(3) After the first appointment, a party is not entitled to production of any further documents except in accordance with directions given under paragraph (2)(a) above or with the permission of the court.

(4) At any stage:

(a)a party may apply for further directions or a FDR appointment;

(b)the court may give further directions or direct that the parties attend a FDR appointment.

(5) Both parties must personally attend the first appointment unless the court orders otherwise.

The FDR appointment

2.61E—(1) The FDR appointment must be treated as a meeting held for the purposes of discussion and negotiation and paragraphs (2) to (9) apply.

(2) The district judge or judge hearing the FDR appointment must have no further involvement with the application, other than to conduct any further FDR appointment or to make a consent order or a further directions order.

(3) Not later than 7 days before the FDR appointment, the applicant must file with the court details of all offers and proposals, and responses to them.

(4) Paragraph (3) includes any offers, proposals or responses made wholly or partly without prejudice, but paragraph (3) does not make any material admissible as evidence if, but for that paragraph, it would not be admissible.

(5) At the conclusion of the FDR appointment, any documents filed under paragraph (3), and any filed documents referring to them, must, at the request of the party who filed them, be returned to him and not retained on the court file.

(6) Parties attending the FDR appointment must use their best endeavours to reach agreement on the matters in issue between them.

(7) The FDR appointment may be adjourned from time to time.

(8) At the conclusion of the FDR appointment, the court may make an appropriate consent order, but otherwise must give directions for the future course of the proceedings, including, where appropriate, the filing of evidence and fixing a final hearing date.

(9) Both parties must personally attend the FDR appointment unless the court orders otherwise.

Costs

2.61F—(1) At every court hearing or appointment each party must produce to the court an estimate in Form H of the costs incurred by him up to the date of that hearing or appointment.

(2) The parties' obligation under paragraph (1) is without prejudice to their obligations under paragraphs 4.1 to 4.11 of the Practice Direction relating to CPR Part 44.”.