Ancillary Relief - Current Issues and
New Developments.
PRACTICE & PROCEDURE
PRESENTATION OF DOCUMENTS
& DRAFT ORDERS
[OR HOW TO
WIN BROWNIE POINTS FOR YOUR CLIENT]
Copyright
Jane DeZonie May 2004-All rights
reserved.
No part of this document may
be copied or used without the written permission
of the author.
Introduction
Busy practitioners should not be blamed for
hastily prepared and/or incomplete bundles
of documents in court, especially in
publicly funded cases, but poor presentation
can hamper the ancillary relief process and
prejudice your client's interests.
Here are a few reminders of best practice.
Adherence to the President of the Family
Division's Practice Direction 2000 in
respect of Court Bundles is overriding and
may limit the amount of additional work
needed on files following the First
Appointment (FA) and/or Financial
Dispute Resolution (FDR). It is
essential in preparation for trial/final
hearing.
The Starting Point: Practice Direction 10th
March 2000 (Family Proceedings: Court Bundles)
Ancillary relief proceedings fall within the
ambit of family proceedings and therefore
this important Practice Direction ("PD") in
respect of court bundles applies. See Note
to PD. (Appendix "A")
[Also reproduced in Family Court Practice
(the Red Book) and at [2000] 1 FLR 536;
[2000] 1 WLR 737 and [2000] 2 All ER 287]
Wide coverage, therefore important.
Best practice:
}
Don't assume case will settle at FA/ FDR
stages or through correspondence - keep
preparing for trial.
}
This approach avoids (multi)
duplication and/or confusion of papers
and/or frantic sifting of relevant material
on eve of trial.
}
Don't assume District Judge has read any
papers and/or [especially in in PRFD) has
possession of your carefully prepared Bundle
or even court file.
}
[Suggest a duplicate to be handed to
Judge essential in PRFD and some county
courts, even at FDR stage.]
}
Papers collated in accordance with
PD, assuming District Judge has not digested
papers at FA/FDR stage is expedient and
efficient.
The order of the documents - some
suggestions
}
Commencement of court bundle
(i)
Index (crucial even if truncated/limited
to sections; can be compiled from list
provided in brief if necessary)
(ii)
Chronology/Summary of background
(iii)
Summary of defined assets & liabilities
(taken from Form E's)
(iii)
Statement of issues (essential for FA)
(iv)
Summary of orders/directions sought
(v)
Skeleton arguments/position statements
(if appropriate & necessary, ie a
preliminary issue to be determined or point
of law)
u
Substance/main body of file
In accordance with PD 2000 paragraph 2.1
(a) Applications & orders, ie
petition, interim applications, standard
directions and orders [suggest include Form
H with these documents - should not be
free-standing as may get lost, should be
updated as necessary.]
(b) Form Es and exhibits -
Statements/narratives.
(c) Experts'/technical reports.
(d) Other relevant documents divided
into sections, eg pensions, investments,
property particulars.
Form E’s & exhibits (crucial evidence)
}
Don't under-estimate importance of
Form E at both FDR and trial
}
Need to append/exhibit necessary
documents in relevant sections
See Appendix B Form E Part 2
In particular:
}
Mortgage statements
}
12 month bank accounts
}
Business assets - last 2 year
accounts
}
Not helpful to simply collate entire
set of documents in a separate file without
pagination or cross-references.
}
Chronological order essential.
}
Sub-divide (eg Current
accounts, credit card accounts, etc.)
}
Sub-index within additional
files if voluminous. [Several unlabelled
lever arch files less than helpful and may
irritate tribunal; can't expect Judge to
pick way through bundles to locate key
documents].
}
Cross -refer, if possible, to any
exhibits by page number within the Form E
itself; or
if documents voluminous prepare schedule
with relevant page numbers; or
if not voluminous, separate out into
relevant sections and append necessary
documents so that the exhibits follow
directly on from the section to which they
relate.
(More useful in small asset cases; larger
assets and & more complex assets may require
cross-refs to 2/3 separate Bundles.)
}
Always bear in mind the
time-restricted Judge.
}
Ease of manoeuvre around the
financial documents will assist your
client's case in court and make life easier
for everyone at final hearing.
Jane DeZonie Coram
Chambers 20th
May 2004
