Tag Archives: family procedure rules 2010

A SIMPLE RECIPE

Sourdough – Recipe makes one family sized loaf

sourdough - peasant bread, courtesy of grongar

sourdough - peasant bread, courtesy of grongar on flickr

  1. Take one large statutory instrument (fresh) and break it into 36 PARTS. Separate each part into several Chapters and season liberally with fresh terminology and numbering (roman is the best).
  2. Add several lever arch files and 2 reams of paper and stir. Leave the mixture overnight covered with a damp cloth.
  3. Next add 61 practice directions, in small batches, folding them in as you go. Do not add all the practice directions at once, or the desired effect will not be achieved.
  4. Once all the lawyers have risen to the top, skim them off and discard hygienically. They cannot be re-used.
  5. Now add the hundreds and thousands (Litigants in Person sort is best – they are untreated) and knead forcefully until all the ingredients are combined.
  6. Put the dough in a lined loaf tin. Top with flaked cuts.
  7. Bake in a hot oven until cracks begin to show in the crust.
  8. Turn out and slice very thinly indeed.
  9. Store in an airtight tin out of reach of children.

 

PS This post was really prompted by the fact that the Ministry of Justice have just published what appears to be a final final final (no really it’s final) list of PDs on their website “for preview purposes only”. A large number of PDs are published here, entirely without fanfare, for the first time. It appears that this useful resource will be removed just as the rules come into force (for reasons which only the MoJ know). As I am delivering a seminar on the rules tomorrow I have spent a considerable amount of time today struggling to print out the PDs that are presently not available elsewhere before they are removed – be warned that it is not straightforward to do this given the format of the material. I am hoping that the MoJ will publish revised rules and PDs as they do with the CPR and Adoption Rules, but have not yet received a response to my enquiry about that. I am not sure how else litigants in person will be able to access a reliable and up to date version of the rules and PDs in one place, but no doubt the MoJ have thought of everything and have a plan. I suppose it might be contrary to government policy to encourage litigation by allowing ordinary people access to the rules. Thankfully the lucky members of the legal community have been given a whole three weeks in which to familiarise themselves with over 700 pages of new regulatory material, although we will have to wait a little longer to see the court forms.

Practice Directions to the New Family Procedure Rules 2010 – Mediation PD

I posted recently about the Practice Directions to the new Family Procedure Rules which come into force on 6 April. Practice Direction 3A Pre-Application Protocol for Mediation Information and Assessment has now been published along with a guidance note and Compliance Form FM1.

It provides that parties to private family proceedings must prior to issue have explored whether mediation might be an alternative method by which to resolve their dispute by attending a mediation information and assessment meeting. If they have not done this the court is likely on first hearing to adjourn pending attendance at such a meeting which constitutes non-compliance with the Protocol. Continue Reading…

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.

Continue Reading…