PRACTICE DIRECTIONS TO THE FAMILY PROCEDURE RULES 2010 – THE ABRIDGED VERSION

Ask and ye shall receive. And lo! I have receivethed no less than 27 Practice Directions to supplement the Family Procedure Rules 2010, all smiling at me from my inbox this morning, and all apparently all made by the President and approved on behalf of the Lord (Chancellor) Himself. My cup truly runneth over. There remains at least one outstanding, but you can’t have everything you wish for. Blessed as I am with these bountiful gifts it is only fitting that I should give of myself and so, once again yours truly has waded through reams of information to produce some kind of distillation. Thanks be to Pink Tape. And here endeth the cheap religious mockery.

I’m going to take them in order of interest. This is a wildly reckless editorial decision I know, but necessary if I am to preserve my sanity. And it’s Friday and this is what I consider fun (it will be Monday by the time you read this. No one will thank me if I deliver them this gift on a weekend).

Let us begin at the back with the PD that deals with Transitional Arrangements (PD36A). Because the first thing you want to know is just how soon is all this really going to kick in?

PD 36A TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

The general intention is to apply the FPR to existing proceedings as far as practicable, and the old rules only where it is not.

When an initiating step has been taken before 6 April 2011 it will proceed under the previous rules and any step that must be taken in response must be in accordance with those rules. However, where a new step is taken in any existing proceedings on or after 6 April it must be done under the new rules.

The overriding objective applies in any event to all cases from 6 April onwards.

Only application forms under the FPR will be issued on or after 6 April – old forms will be returned unissued, except in exceptional cases where the matter is urgent. This begs the question of what the new forms are – of which more below.

When a matter first comes before the court (including on paper) after 6 April the court may direct how the FPR apply, although there is a general presumption that the FPR will apply.

If an application is issued prior to 6 April but listed after that date the presumption is that the application will be decided having regard to the FPR.

And where the first occasion on which existing proceedings are before a court after 6 April is a hearing of a substantive issue the general presumption is that the hearing will be conducted according to the FPR.

An assessment of costs taking place after 6 April will be in accordance with FPR Part 28, but the presumption is that no costs for work undertaken prior to 6 April will be disallowed if they would have been allowed if assessed prior to that date. The question of whether to allow costs for work undertaken on or after 6 April will generally be taken in accordance with the FPR.

Easy. The answer to the first question is: pretty much it will kick in on 6 April, so you’d better be ready.

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