Changes to procedure in the Financial Remedies Court - what do they mean for you?

The Financial Remedies Court (“FRC”) deals with certain Family Court proceedings relating to finances. It is responsible for resolving disputes about how a former couple’s assets, such as their home and pensions, should be divided after they legally separate (e.g. divorce or dissolve their civil partnership).

From January 2022 there have been significant changes to the procedure you will have to follow if you are involved in this type of court proceedings. For example:

  • If you make the application to court (the court will call you “the Applicant”) you must complete a questionnaire in consultation with your ex-spouse in order to help make sure your claim is assigned to the right level of judge;
  • Before the First Appointment (where a judge first arranges how your case will progress) you and your ex-partner must provide the court with:
    • a single market valuation for your family home; and
    • material that indicates how much money each of you are likely to be able to borrow to buy your own homes; and
  • If you are the applicant, before all hearings you must provide the court with:
    • a form that sets out both your assets and your ex-partner’s; and
    • a case summary which includes information about you, your ex-partner, the court proceedings, and a summary of the issues involved in your case.

To complete these steps separated couples must cooperate. For example:

  • Obtaining agreed property valuations and estimates of your borrowing potential will require you to decide together which professionals to use and which estimates to send to court.
  • Although the schedule of assets and case summary do not have to be agreed, as the forms allow you and your ex-partner to put down your own opinion about most things, they cannot be completed without some passing of documents back-and-forth.

This may seem impossible if your relationship with your ex-partner is poor. Even if your relationship is fairly good the process may reveal points of disagreement which then have to be resolved. As you and your ex will need to obtain information much earlier in proceedings, it is possible that there will be increased costs involved in preparing your case for the First Appointment.  

However, the new guidance may still have a positive impact on you. As you and your ex will have the information you need to hopefully resolve any disputes much earlier in the proceedings, this should reduce the costs incurred later on. It may even help you reach a settlement before the proceedings have progressed too far.  Actively negotiating and reaching an agreement is encouraged.  Settling financial disputes early often leads to former couples having a more positive post-separation experience. For example, a mediator could work with you and your ex-partner to try and achieve this. Alternatively, you might prefer arbitration or a private Financial Dispute Resolution

Mills & Reeve’s family team has a wealth of experience in financial proceedings as well as a large team of mediators and arbitrators. To find out more, click here.

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