Leonard Kasler & Company
Divorces in Kent
(20 Things to Know)
1. There is a new procedure described as "a major case management initiative".
2. It operates in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells County Courts and selective other Divorce Courts around the Country. There are none in London.
3. It is designed to avoid delay, to contain costs and to facilitate settlement.
4. The Petitioner issues the Divorce Petition in the usual way, usually claiming the whole range of potential financial relief.
5. The Petitioner starts the financial consideration by naming a date for the First Appointment.
6. Both spouses must attend with their Solicitor on the First Appointment.
7. The Judge reviews the financial information so far exchanged by way of forms (Form E) and makes further Directions.
8. The Directions may encompass the production of documentary evidence, the obtaining of valuation and other reports, the filing of evidence and the answering of questions.
9. It is effectively a check list of what the parties and the Judge thinks needs to be done for another Judge to consider and deal with the case.
10. Each party must file a Statement setting out its understanding of the issues in question
11. Each party must also file a Note of the legal costs incurred to date. This can also have the effect of making the more unreasonable party come to terms
12. On the hearing of the First Appointment, another date is fixed (usually in some two or three months’ time) for another appointment called the Financial Dispute Resolution ("FDR") appointment.
13. Again, the parties and their Solicitors must attend. Woe betide them if they have not dealt fully with the Directions made at the First Appointment.
14. The Judge takes an active part in trying to obtain settlement.
15. He will enquire what attempts have been made to reach agreement prior to the FDR appointment.
16. If he thinks that one party is being unreasonable, he will say so.
17. If a resolution cannot be reached, the matter will go forward to a full hearing.
18. Before that full hearing, both parties must file a concise statement of the Orders that they would like the Court to make.
19. This new procedure does, in our opinion, achieve the desired objective and is to be commended.
20. Although a certain amount of work and costs are incurred at an earlier stage, it does tend to deliver an earlier result for the parties. The on-going worry and massive costs in the run-up to a full blown contested hearing are more easily avoided.
Michael Breeze
Leoanrd Kasler & Company
Sunday, 13. October 2002