Family Law Insights: Contested Financial Remedy Proceedings in Divorce

Amelia Bunce, Trainee Solicitor

Amelia has been supporting John Randle in the family team, dealing with all aspects of family law, specialising in high-net-worth divorces. She also works on contentious and non-contentious employment matters, and personal injury claims – including those arising in connection with historic child abuse.

Financial remedy proceedings are a court-led process to establish how money, property and other assets will be divided following divorce. Of course, the parties may be able to agree on a fair division of assets by themselves. If the parties cannot come to an agreement by themselves, with their solicitors or through mediation sessions, one party will usually be advised to issue court proceedings. The parties will then follow court procedures before a judge determines the fairest division of assets.

If court proceedings are initiated, the parties will potentially need to attend three court hearings:

• First Directions Appointment
• Financial Dispute Resolution Hearing
• Final Hearing

The court system is designed to give parties opportunities to come to an agreement at every point. Going to a final hearing is a last resort. However, if you do go through the court system, this is the process that you can expect.

First Directions Appointment (FDA)

This first hearing will look to consider and narrow the issues in the case. The parties are encouraged to reach an agreement on as many issues as possible. 

The judge will look at the financial disclosure produced by both parties and decide what further financial information is required before the second hearing. If the parties cannot agree on the value of certain asset (e.g., the family home, art works, business assets owned by either party), the judge may also request that these assets be valued by professionals.

The judge will then give directions to prepare the case for the next hearing — a Financial Dispute Resolution Hearing. 

Financial Dispute Resolution Hearing (FDR)

The FDR hearing is an opportunity for parties to negotiate to try and settle the case with the court’s assistance. The parties will be asked to attend court one hour before the hearing is due to start, with the expectation that this time is used to attempt to reach agreement on as many issues as possible.

The judge will give an indication, based on experience in previous cases, as to how the court will likely divide the assets. However, this is a non-binding indication that cannot be relied upon at a final hearing (the judge dealing with the FDR hearing cannot be involved with the case at the final hearing).

If the parties do not settle, the judge will order that the case move forward to the Final Hearing. The parties are expected to continue their negotiations in the days and weeks before this takes place. The judge will assess whether further information is required from either party and may request additional documents, such as detailed narrative statements in which the parties set out their case in writing.

Final Hearing

If the parties have not come to an agreement by the time that the hearing date comes around, they will need to attend a Final Hearing in person. At this hearing, a judge will consider oral and written evidence. This will be a mixture of written evidence that has been provided throughout the case, and oral evidence from both parties. Final Hearings can last for several days, depending on the complexity of the case.

At the end of the Final Hearing, the judge will decide on the fairest division of the assets. This will then be drafted into a final and binding court order. 

It is important to remember that the court procedure is designed to help the parties settle the matter as early as possible in the proceedings. Only a very small percentage of cases will reach a Final Hearing, with most cases settling at the FDR hearing stage. This is both more cost-efficient and less emotionally draining for both parties than proceeding to a Final Hearing.