Managing proceedings online

The digitalisation programme set out by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) aims to increase the efficiency of family proceedings. Amendments have been made, and continue to be made to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010) to provide that certain applications and proceedings are to proceed by electronic means, ie online rather than on paper.

See Practice Note: Online family proceedings toolkit which brings together various resources and documents associated with the HMCTS online system and online proceedings, including signposting to provisions in the FPR 2010, pilot schemes that are in operation in the Family Court, Lexis+® UK Practice Notes and HMCTS guidance available to assist practitioners dealing with proceedings online.

Online divorce procedure

FPR 2010, PD 41A (Proceedings by electronic means: certain proceedings for a matrimonial order) came into effect on 6 April 2020 and sets out the procedure by which, in the circumstances provided for in the Practice Direction, an application for a divorce may proceed by electronic means. FPR 2010, PD 41A sets out the modifications that are made to the FPR 2010 when the application is made via the online service.

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High Court judgment demonstrates usefulness of section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in Schedule 1 claims (Re P (A Child) (Financial Provision))

Family analysis: In this Schedule 1 case the mother received, for her son’s benefit: a housing fund of nearly £1m (the property to be held on trust); child maintenance (including ‘HECSA’/carer’s allowance) until completion of his first degree; and lump sums in respect of his capital needs and her own substantial liabilities (chiefly relating to her unpaid legal fees). The father (whose resources could be measured in the ‘tens of millions of pounds’) had sought to prejudice the mother’s claims via transferring his valuable shares to family members, who then transferred the same into a trust structure (settled under Czech law). A further onwards transfer was then made of the trust’s assets into a Liechtenstein foundation. Inferences were drawn by the court in respect of the level of the father’s wealth, and specifically as to the value of the transferred shares. Detailed findings were made against him in respect of the identified transactions, which had been the focus of the mother’s section 423 application. Although a section 423(2) order was not actually made, the application was adjourned pending the father’s compliance with the award, with security in the sum of £600,000 also ordered, alongside a continuation of the freezing orders made earlier in the proceedings. David Wilkinson, solicitor at Slater Heelis, considers the issues.

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