Both parties must attend the First Appointment. The objective of the Appointment is to define the issues and save costs. Obviously, the fewer the issues between the parties, the less the costs are likely to be. You may think that this is not relevant to you if you are not instructing a solicitor, but you may be ordered to pay the other party’s costs if you do not conduct the case in a reasonable fashion (see Chapter 7), and you may wish to instruct a solicitor to represent you at any final hearing – see below.
court will not make a final order, unless a settlement is agreed between the parties. The only time that the court will make an order (apart from the directions mentioned below) is where one party is asking for an interim order, such as maintenance pending suit, i.e. a temporary maintenance order that will last until a final order is made.
The matters that the district judge will deal with at the First Appointment will include the following:
• What questions in each party’s questionnaire the other party must answer, as mentioned above. The district judge will strike out any irrelevant questions and will then direct that each party must reply to the rest of the other party’s questionnaire by a specific date. (Replies should also be filed with the court.)
• Whether there is any dispute over valuations of assets and, if so, how that dispute is to be resolved. For example, if the parties are in dispute as to the value of the former matrimonial home, then the court will usually direct that there be a joint valuation, i.e. the parties will jointly instruct a single expert (and will be bound by their valuation), sharing the expert’s fees.
• Whether the case is suitable tobe referred to a Financial Dispute Resolution appointment (assuming the First Appointment is not also being used as an FDR) and, if so, fixing a date for the FDR. If the case is not appropriate for an FDR, then the district judge will either fix another directions hearing or will fix a date for the final hearing, unless the parties have agreed to go to out-of-court mediation, in which case the proceedings
will be adjourned for long enough for the mediation to take place.
Note that neither party is entitled to produce any further documents, save as directed by the court. Accordingly, if there are any other documents that you wish to produce, then you must ask the court for permission to do so. (If, after the First Appointment, either party wants the court to make any further directions, then they will need to request another directions appointment.)