A set of standardised orders for the family court has been issued by Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division.
The orders—for financial and enforcement remedies—are not yet mandatory but their use is ‘strongly to be encouraged’, Sir James said, in a practice guidance note last week.
‘The use of standard orders produced at the press of a button will obviate the need for drafts from counsel and solicitors scribbled out in the corridor,’ he said.
‘It should assist greatly in reducing the time judges and court staff spend approving and completing orders. And the existence of a body of standardised and judicially approved forms of order will go a long way to assisting judges and others—mediators for example—faced with the increasing number of litigants in person who cannot be expected to draft their own orders.’
A drafting group was set up in 2013 to prepare a comprehensive set of standardised orders. Sir James said it was now time these draft orders to be placed on a more formal footing.
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