Financial Remedies Hearings

Once someone files a form A, the court will schedule the first hearing and all the preparation and forms that have to be done before that. 

There are usually three or four hearings in total. 

The First Directions Appointment (FDA) 

The First Appointment (FDA) is for the court to consider the case and decide what instructions (‘directions’) it needs to give you both to prepare the case. Most FDAs are about 30 minutes long. However, you’ll generally be at court a lot longer. In Norwich you’re told to arrive by 9.15am for a 10am hearing. Lots of cases are scheduled for 10am, and you go in when you’re ready or the judge is ready. In the meantime, you use the time to negotiate with your ex, if you can. 

In the hearing, you will be in the judge’s Chambers – their office. You will be seated around a table with the judge at one end and you and your ex opposite one another. You sit next to your lawyer, if you have one. You won’t be in a big courtroom. 

The judge will have seen the documents you have sent to the court, although there are sometimes difficulties with this. In particular, it’s best to have several hard copies of anything you send to the court a few days before the hearing, such as your position statement, in case this has not been scanned and uploaded in time.  

The judge’s role is to decide what information is still needed to prepare the case for a final hearing. He or she then orders you and your ex to go away and get that information. 

That might include valuations, missing form E documents, a statement about conduct etc.  

You then go back to court a few months later for the next hearing. 

The Financial Dispute Resolution Appointment (FDR) 

The second hearing is a Financial Dispute Resolution appointment. This is a really important hearing. It’s where the judge hears what you and your ex each thinks would be a fair outcome and gives their opinion. FDRs are usually listed for about an hour. 

You tell the judge what you would really settle for, and so does your ex. 

The judge will say ‘if this goes to a final hearing, I think a fair outcome would be …’ This is known as an ‘indication’. 

It might be that this reveals that one of you is being unreasonable or has been mistaken. Sometimes it really is just difficult to decide how different relevant factors should affect the case. 

He or she then sends you out of the room to try to negotiate in light of this. 

The judge doesn’t have to agree with either you or your ex. They have to follow Acts of Parliament and the principles set out in cases decided in the higher courts. Their view might be different to both you or your ex. 

Sometimes unfortunately there are issues that the judge doesn’t have enough information to express an opinion about. It might come down to witness evidence. This should not really happen if the case is fully prepared by you and your ex, but sometimes even in the most carefully prepared cases there’s something unclear at this stage. 

Many people reach agreement at this stage. If you and your ex reach agreement at the FDR you can ask the judge to approve that agreement then and there. You’ll need to have a proper court order written up – this can be done at court if one of you has a lawyer. But the agreement once approved by a judge is called a Rose agreement and it is binding on you both. (Seek legal advice if one of you tries to back out after this.)  

If you don’t reach agreement then the judge will list what needs to be done before the next hearing.  

All of the FDR documents will be sealed up.  The FDR is a ‘without prejudice’ negotiation. The judge at your final hearing won’t know what you were willing to settle for, only what you are asking for at the final hearing.  

Combining the FDA and FDR 

Before the FDA you will have filed and served (sent to court and to your ex) a load of documents including your form E financial disclosure and a questionnaire. If you and your ex are sensible you will both try to get ahead of all this, so that you can proceed straight to the FDR without needing the FDA. This speeds things up. 

This means that there are no missing bits of disclosure and you have agreed valuations of things. You have written your questionnaires and each of you has replied to the other’s questionnaire.  

Getting ahead like this means the court has the information it needs to give an indication of what a fair outcome would be. You tell the court you can do this by completing form G. 

The court will not skip an FDR unless one party can’t be found. 

The Pre-Trial Review (PTR) 

If you have not reached agreement, then the next hearing is the pre-trial review. This is a short hearing to check everybody has done everything to prepare for the final hearing so that hearing can go ahead. The judge at the PTR should be the judge at the final hearing. 

The Final Hearing 

This is the final hearing or ‘trial’. As with the other hearings, you will be in the judge’s office – their chambers. The judge will hear from you and your ex and reach a decision. The decision might be some outcome that neither you nor your ex likes, but which is fair according to the laws that the judge has to follow. 

A final hearing will usually be listed for one or two days. A court day is generally 10am to 4pm with a break from 1 to 2pm.  

If there are lawyers involved the first part of the hearing will be ‘housekeeping’ aka planning the day and making sure everyone has everything they need.