Financial Court Application on Divorce

For a variety of reason, it may be advisable to resolve matters with the Court’s assistance through Court proceedings. A court timetable can help to prevent delay and move matters forward constructively. Our team will advise you if this is the best way forward based on your particular circumstances. 

An application to start your Financial Court application and a court fee will be payable. Generally speaking, the Court application will involve a three stage process:

1: The First Directions Appointment hearing (“FDA”)

This is primarily an administrative hearing to deal with the evidence and further information that the parties and the Court will need to move your matter forward. 

The first thing that the parties need to deal with is the exchange of financial disclosure which his usually done through the structure of a standard form (such as a Form E or E1 depending on the type of application. 

Other documents will then also need to be prepared such as:-

• A Chronology setting out the key dates in your matter.
• A Questionnaires or Request for Documents once you have reviewed the financial information provided by your partner.
• Applications for expert evidence such as business valuations, property valuations, pension reports and tax calculations.
• Mortgage capacity reports and potential property particular examples so that the Court can start to consider how your housing needs would be met post separation. 

At the FDA hearing, the judge will set out the next steps for the application. Directions might include:

• Deadlines to provide replies to Questionnaires or Requests for Documents
• Deadlines and the process to obtain any expert evidence
• Timetable to prepare for and to list the FDR

2: The Financial Dispute Resolution hearing (“FDR”)

The FDR hearing is often to as a ‘settlement day’ and is a forum for negotiation and discussion which takes place with the assistance of a judge. By this stage, all financial information, expert evidence and requested information should be available to the parties and the Court and both parties will have to have made offers for settlement. To assist the chance of settlement, the offers which have to be made by the parties during the hearing cannot be referred to in the future if the case does not settle which encourages compromises to be made by the parties at this stage. The judge at the FDR hearing will try to assist the parties by hearing their respective arguments and giving opinion and their observations on what the potential settlement should be.

Generally, FDR hearings require a whole day at court. Negotiations between the parties take place outside the court room but the judge is available to provide guidance and, ultimately, to make directions if no settlement is reached.

If you have instructed a solicitor and/or a barrister then negotiations will take place through them. They will be able to advise you on the offers which you make or receive during the course of the day. If a settlement is not reached at the FDR hearing the judge will list a Final Hearing and that particular Judge will otherwise have no further involvement in the case.

3: The Final Hearing (often with a shorter Directions Hearing a few weeks before to ensure that everything will be ready for the Final Hearing).

A final hearing will only take place if it does not prove possible for the parties to reach an agreement by negotiation. At the end of the FDR hearing the court will make further directions to deal with any supplementary financial disclosure, filing and exchange of witness statements and fix a date for the hearing which is likely to be at least 6 months following the FDR.