Simplified court procedures
Plans have been announced by the Ministry of Justice to simplify family court procedures and modernise legal language.
Part of an ongoing programme to improve people's experience in court, the proposals follow a public consultation process that showed public support for replacing archaic language.
In future, for example, 'degree nisi' will be known as a conditional order and 'divorce petition' will be called an application for a divorce order.
In addition, the procedures for different levels of court will be aligned, meaning that people using the family courts will only need to refer to one source for guidance, not the three they have to use at the moment.
According to Justice Minister Bridget Prentice, "The new proposals will make it easier for people to follow what is being said in court, and procedures will be easier to use as the rules for all family proceedings will be in one easily accessible code."
Some of the proposed changes are set to save time and money for both court users and administrators. For example in future, people involved in family proceedings will be able to serve some court documents on each other by email.
The next stage in introducing the simplified procedure takes place later this year, when the Family Procedure Rule Committee consults on the draft rules.
Call Julia Smart on 0117 9290451 or email jsmart@metcalfes.co.uk
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