Family Law Insights: Am I Ready for My Final Hearing?

John Randle, Head of Family Practice

John is a specialist family solicitor with over 40 years’ experience dealing with complex, high value divorce cases.

Facing a final hearing is often one of the most daunting, not to mention expensive, stages of the divorce process. Whether it’s a financial remedies case or a hearing in respect of a child arrangements order, there is an awful lot to think about in the weeks leading up to the final hearing.

Much has been said about the legal processes you can expect during your final hearing. Unfortunately, less attention is paid to the emotional demands of the day itself. Solicitors typically focus on guiding their clients through the paperwork, but preparing mentally is just as important as preparing legally. This short piece is intended to help you as a party to the case to prepare yourself for the big day.

The Build Up

The weeks leading up to a final hearing are in my opinion rather like preparing for a major operation at a hospital. While the operation itself is beyond your control, there is much that can be done to prepare mentally and physically, and that preparation requires a lot of professional support. Once a final hearing has been scheduled, time is against you. The court date is listed for the final hearing and then the parties have a barrage of tasks to deal with before the case is ready for that hearing. There is a lot to do, and no stone should be left unturned.

Let’s assume you are the Applicant, i.e., you issued the original court application for a financial remedies order or a child arrangements order. That means that the pressure is on you and your legal team (if you have one) to get the case ready for trial. There is work of course for the other party, but the heavier burden inevitably falls on the applicant’s side. There will be directions to comply with as ordered by the court at the penultimate hearing, and court time is an extremely valuable resource (especially these days). Missing any of these deadlines or failing to prepare for them adequately can be extremely costly, potentially leading to adjournments if the court decides your case is not ready to be heard. Further, courts are increasingly willing to impose costs sanctions on parties they feel are not negotiating reasonably; failure by one party to comply with court directions can lead to that party being ordered to pay the costs of the other party, as well as their own – a potentially significant financial hit in the context of a contested final hearing.

So, once the final hearing date is set, a military operation ensues. The dates set by the court are not there to be treated as rough guidelines; there are serious consequences for missing these deadlines. Once you know the dates, it’s time to calculate the number of days you have left and set milestones to mark your progress along the way.

A Pocket Guide to Your Final Hearing

Unfortunately, the preparation of the court bundle is often left too late in the day, even by lawyers. This is an essential task that must be started well in advance. Many hours and days leading up to a trial can be spent by lawyers and litigants arguing over what should be included and excluded from the bundle that will be presented to the judge at the final hearing. In my experience, this is all but inevitable, and it is always worth allowing more time for a task than you think is necessary for this stage of the preparations.

To simplify this stage of the process somewhat, the following are almost certainly likely to arise, and are well worth preparing for:

1. Know your witness statement inside out

You will no doubt have read your own witness statements several times over by now, but many months may have passed since you signed it. Whether it’s a section 25 statement in financial proceedings on divorce, or your witness statement in children proceedings, it is worth re-reading and familiarising yourself with these statements before the hearing (and certainly the night before to refresh your memory a final time). Do not go into your hearing thinking “I know what I said, it will be fine”. These are important statements, and the court should get the impression that you are clear on what you stated in your written evidence.

2. Take a break from your case

To state the obvious, no one enjoys spending weeks and months locked in an attritional high-stakes conflict with their former spouse or partner. Make sure you schedule mandatory time away from thinking about the case. Take time to do other things so that your mind and body can relax. You cannot perform well at court if you are exhausted and drained emotionally. Burnout is a real thing, and it can end up being very costly to those who succumb to it.

3. Rest the night before the hearing

It is very important that you have a quiet evening the night before your big day in court. Avoid alcohol and keep hydrated. You will need to be fresh for the hearing. In fact, this applies for every night of the hearing, which may last several days. Think of it as a marathon, not a sprint. The time to celebrate or commiserate will come later.

4. Dress appropriately

Whether your hearing is taking place in person or online, this is a court hearing. It is a solemn occasion, and you should dress smartly and appropriately, being respectful to the court in your appearance.

5. Don’t forget to eat

In my experience, parties going through a final hearing are often so busy and tense that they forego meals during the day itself. This is a mistake! Your day will typically begin with a conference with your barrister at 9 am, before a hearing starting at 10 am and running without a break until 1 pm. Lunchtime may well be spent talking to your lawyers, before an afternoon hearing that can run well into the afternoon. While food may not seem the most important thing when you’re attending a court hearing that will determine your post-divorce finances or child arrangements, hunger will only add to the physical toll of the proceedings. Firstly, have a good breakfast — it will be a long and arduous day. You should arrive at court with water and snacks. You will need healthy snacks to keep up your energy, it will be a long day.

6. Arrange any childcare and work leave as soon as possible

With so much to think about in the weeks before your final hearing, it is easy to forget that time in court will create gaps in your personal life. Make sure that you have organised suitable alternative care arrangements for your children or others you may care for well in advance of the hearing. Factoring in travel, you will likely be away from home from 8 am to 6 pm. School runs still have to be catered for when you are not there, and it is unreasonable to plan on getting any work done during your hearing. Set Out of Office notifications warning others that you will not be able to answer you phone or access emails during the day(s) in court. Your final hearing has been months and years in the making, you don’t want to end up being distracted by domestic or work-related matters.

7. Request emotional support

Taking a friend or sibling to court for moral support can be helpful, but your emotional support will not be allowed in court and will have a lot of waiting around. If someone is prepared to support you throughout the day it can be a big help to your emotional wellbeing, but they will need to be aware of the required commitment well in advance.

8. Prepare to give oral evidence

It is a rule of the court that the party giving oral evidence cannot talk to his or her lawyers until released by the judge. This often unsettles clients, who are understandably nervous about being cross-examined (that is, being questioned by the other party’s barrister) with no opportunity to ask about their performance until it’s all over. Indeed, it is common for the court to break for lunch or at the end of the day before the cross-examination is complete. If you as a party are in the witness box when the break comes, you will not be allowed to talk to your lawyers during the break. This rule ensures that the witness cannot be influenced by others, especially their lawyer, while they are still giving evidence to the court. Prepare for this. You will feel very isolated in the witness box. You will likely feel lost and alone when left in this limbo stage. Better to know that well in advance and avoid nasty shocks. It can be a lonely place, especially if the break runs overnight or over a weekend.

9. Remain calm

During the hearing you may become very emotional and feel upset about what the other party says in evidence. You may find it hard to contain your emotions. The best advice in this scenario is to remain dignified at all times. Be respectful to the court and all parties to the court. It does not reflect well on your character if the judge sees that you can’t control yourself in the face of your ex-partner.

10. Take a notebook

Note down anything that is said during the final hearing that you want to bring to your lawyer’s attention. Being stressed in court can affect your memory recall. Better to jot down specific points as and when they arise so that you can raise these matters with your lawyers when the time is right.

11. Don’t expect an immediate outcome

Be prepared for the fact that the judge’s decision on the application in hand may not be given at the end of the final hearing. The judge may decide to give an oral judgement there and then. However, the judge may want time to review the evidence in their own time, especially if there have been days of oral evidence and many issues in dispute. The judge may therefore decide to deliver a reserved judgment. This means it will often be delivered in writing after the hearing has ended, sometimes weeks later. The judge will usually indicate their preference on this to the parties towards the end of the hearing. You have been waiting for months to get to this stage and spent potentially thousands of pounds in legal fees. You will be anxious to learn the result. Of course, it can be a real let down to suddenly learn there will be no immediate judgement, but it is best to be prepared for all eventualities. Try and avoid the shocks in what is already a stressful situation.

This is not an exhaustive list of the things you will need to prepare for, at your final hearing, but it is highly likely that the above will arise in your case. Your lawyer will prepare you well for the final hearing, but you need to be “match ready” for what is a hugely important event that will affect the rest of your life, or the lives of your children.