Legal News
Covid-19: divorce and financial arrangements (31 March 2020)
Date: 31/03/2020
The global outbreak of Covid-19 has impacted everyone’s day to day life and the Family Justice System is no exception. The legal system has had to adjust almost overnight.
You may be mid-way through your divorce and financial proceedings and wondering how this will impact you. Our Family director Natasha Khakhar sets out what you need to know.
Current updated guidance:
- First hearings (First Directions Appointments) should be completed wherever possible using the “accelerated” paper-only procedure. Consent orders are being encouraged to deal with these hearings. The purpose of these hearings is usually to consider outstanding information and timetable the matter to progress.
- Parties should be encouraged to have their Financial Dispute Resolution Hearings (the second hearing) done privately. This should be done remotely. The purpose of this hearing is to attempt to negotiate a settlement once all disclosure has been obtained and the judge will usually provide an indication at this hearing as to how the matter should settle. If matters cannot settle they will be listed before a different judge for the final hearing. A private hearing would usually involve appointing an experienced barrister or solicitor in place of a judge.
- The default position for other hearings is that they should be done remotely either by video conferencing or by telephone.
- Physical hearings should only take place where this is absolutely unavoidable.
- The physical lodging and handling of documents should be avoided and the use of e-bundles should be mandatory (via a cloud based link rather than a series of emails).
- Judges should do as much as they possibly can from home.
Practical considerations:
It is likely that certain directions may now be more difficult to follow such as a valuation of your property, business or pension. It is likely that valuations will be dropping and it is important to have realistic values of any assets prior to a settlement.
Some parties’ personal financial situations may be changing, with the risk of redundancies in many sectors, furloughed leave etc.
We are already seeing the courts postponing matters which are seen as “less urgent”, therefore where possible, parties are encouraged to come to an agreement before the hearing and agree to an order where possible so that hearings can come out of the listings.
If settlements are achieved out of court, it is important to have these recorded in a formal legal document and legal advice should be obtained to ensure agreements are fair and likely to be accepted by a judge.
What about your divorce?
With regards to divorce proceedings, we are aware that the divorce units currently have significantly fewer members of staff who are dealing with decree absolutes, decree nisi pronouncements and urgent applications. They are continuously reviewing the same and attempting to expand on this when possible.
Author Natasha Khakhar is a director in the family department, based in the Luton office. She specialises in all aspects of family law including divorce, financial proceedings, private children matters and domestic abuse.
For any queries or for assistance concerning our fees and eligibility for legal aid, please contact Natasha on 02070147385 or at natashak@duncanlewis.com