Courts piloting express procedure for low value financial claims
If a divorcing couple cannot agree financial arrangements then one of them will usually ask the court to sort out the arrangements for them. This is known as a ‘financial remedies application’.
But financial remedies applications can be lengthy and expensive. And this can be a particular problem when there are only limited assets in dispute – the last thing the parties need is for those assets to be dissipated on legal costs.
To address this, the Courts Service is piloting a new ‘express’ procedure, aimed at resolving contested financial remedy cases more quickly.
The new procedure will apply to cases where the assets appear to be under £250,000 net, excluding pensions. The party making the application is expected to state on the application form whether the assets appear to be under that figure, and if so the case will be allocated to the express procedure.
The main difference between the express procedure and the current procedure is that it will involve a maximum of two hearings, rather than three.
Under the current procedure the three hearings are:
1. A First Directions Appointment, used by the court to give directions as to the future conduct of the proceedings, including the filing of evidence;
2. A Financial Dispute Resolution (’FDR’) appointment, at which the parties are expected to use their best endeavours to settle the matter by agreement, with the help of the court; and, assuming no agreement is reached,
3. A final hearing, at which the court will hear the evidence and decide what order to make.
The express procedure will do away with the first of these hearings, by giving directions for the parties to comply with, as soon as it receives the application. The court will list the FDR to take place between 16 and 20 weeks after the application is issued, and a final hearing, to take place between 26 and 30 weeks after it is issued.
The initial directions will require both of the parties to gather all of their evidence, including evidence of their means, before the FDR, and send it to the court and the other party.
If the matter is agreed at the FDR then a final order will be drawn up in the terms of the agreement, and the proceedings will end. If no agreement is reached then the case will continue to the final hearing.
If the party making the application does not think that the case is suitable for the express procedure then they can ask the court to leave the pilot. If the court agrees that it is not suitable then the case will be allocated to the current procedure.
The pilot began on the 7th of April, in courts in the north of the country, and in the midlands. It will continue until the 3rd of April 2026.
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