Ancillary relief proceedings - part 2

The First Appointment

Part 1 gave information about commencing an ancillary relief application and the steps to be taken prior to the first court hearing of such an application.

Unsurprisingly this hearing is termed “The First Appointment”.

The First Appointment is a directions hearing that has to be attended personally by both parties unless the court orders otherwise. The objectives of the First Appointment are to define the issues in dispute between the parties and to save costs.  The hearing takes place before a member of the judiciary called a “District Judge”.
He/she is required to determine:-

  1. the extent to which any questionnaires served by the parties seeking further information must be answered; and
  2. what documents must be produced and to give directions for the production of such further documents as are necessary.

He/she must also give directions about such matters as:-

  • the valuation of assets, most usually the matrimonial home;
  • the obtaining and exchanging of expert evidence, most usually with regard to the value of pension assets, if required;
  • the evidence to be produced by each party; and
  • the preparation of further chronologies or schedules (where appropriate).

It is assumed that the District Judge does decide that an FDR is appropriate.  It is possible for the court to treat the First Appointment as an FDR.  It may be remembered that the Form G can be completed accordingly. 

However, experience is that few First Appointments are treated as FDRs.  The reasons for this include:

  1. that there are usually outstanding issues regarding the valuation of the parties’ assets, particularly the former matrimonial home;
  2. the replies to the parties’ respective questionnaires and requests for  documentation are required before negotiations can take place;
  3. an insufficiency of court time. The majority of courts list First Appointments with a time estimate of 30 minutes and FDR’s for one hour, this with a requirement that the parties and their advisors attend an hour before the actual FDR for the purposes of negotiations and in order to narrow the issues between them.

For further information regarding matters arising from this article, please telephone Christian Abletshauser on
01932 852057, or email him: ChristianAbletshauser@meadowsfraser.com