I did not settle at FDR – What is next?

If you do not settle your case with your spouse at the FDR, the Judge will set a further list of tasks that you and your spouse will need to undertake to prepare for the Final Hearing. Typically this will be to update your financial disclosure, file Witness Statements, if appropriate obtain updated Experts reports, and there will be some standard directions dealing with the run up to trial, such as preparation of court bundles and a requirement upon each party to set out their ‘open’ proposals.

The Judge who heard your case at FDR cannot be your trial Judge as she or he would have read the without prejudice offers you would have exchanged before the hearing and would have heard details of further without prejudice offers that were made as part of the negotiation process on the day.

The run up and preparation of a Final Hearing is regrettably quite expensive, and you can expect to double your legal fees from the date of the FDR to the date of the Final Hearing as a broad guide.