Litigants in person family cases and family procedure rules

A litigant in person is given latitude by the judges but you still have to follow the family procedure rules.   These can be found at http://www.justice.gov.uk.

You must look at these and if appropriate print out the ones that apply to your case. If you are stuck do not be afraid of asking the judge what the rules mean or for directions. “Directions” means a Court Order specifically saying what you have to do. Far better to understand fully where you are and what you have to achieve than to guess and remain quiet and be “shy”.

The first hearing is called the First Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment (FHDRA) or First Appointment.

At a children hearing you will be seen by a CAFCASS Officer. CAFCASS stands for Children And Family Court Advisory And Support Service Officer. This will be a social worker experienced in children cases. You must be very careful here because many of them tend to be what you might call guardian reading green tie wearing muesli for breakfast tree hugging types. There are many horror stories of fathers who have upset these CAFCASS Officers and it has rebounded so it is essential to take legal advice before this stage.

There are all sorts of Orders that can be made such as getting you to attend a course for separated parents at which you will probably explode with anger. Do not keep quiet.

If you want to know more about this first hearing go to http://www.justice.gov.uk/12b.

Often the judge will order that the child’s wishes and feelings are ascertained via CAFCASS Report who will talk to each parent and the children separately. This is called a section 7 Report and extremely important because the judge will take a lot of notice of it.

Take expert advice at an early stage.

We would be interested in your comments, please leave them by clicking on the title to this blog above.