Before pressing COURT, press here!
Pre-action protocol obligations in most finance cases
The official court rules say that it is not okay to hare off to court over an argument about family finances without following certain steps first in an effort to avoid court entirely.
The courts regularly see cases that do not belong there. People often suffer because their case has unnecessarily gone to court. Court proceedings typically make cases more expensive, more drawn out, more damaging for wellbeing, more complex and pricier for society as a whole. No one ever said 'thank goodness my wife and I went to court to slug it out'. It helps to think about your children or wider family and avoid making decisions when angry or upset or which centre around your personal 'principles' rather than the core legal issues. The problem you have may be made worse, not better, by taking the case to court.
Seek advice if you possibly can. The pre-application protocol - the avoid-court message in the court rules - does not apply to every case and emergency situations will be treated differently.
The steps required before heading for court (in most finances cases) are:
This page focuses on cases involving financial issues. There are exceptions for unusual, finance cases and those involving safety concerns.
However, in most cases, court should not be used as a first (or even second) resort. The aim, before any court proceedings are begun, is to resolve the case without going to court. As an alternative, a neutral professional, who specialises in non-court dispute resolution, should be brought in to assist in bringing about a resolution.
If a person fails to undertake these efforts before heading for court, the judge can:
- stop the case from progressing;
- delay the case while the required efforts are carried out;
- make the person responsible for rushing to court pay a penalty in costs to the other person.
Rushing to court in this way can make the person doing the rushing appear less reasonable. That person should expect a judge to require an explanation at the very minimum. It’s not pleasant to be the person under the spotlight and it can set off the case in the wrong way.
The relevant procedural guidelines – in the form of a 'pre application protocol' - are contained in the Annex to Practice Direction 9A of the Family Procedure Rules. See the toolkit below.
Please do have a look at Non-Court Dispute Resolution for more nuggets on sorting out your issues without a court showdown.