Do I still need to meet Family Court deadlines whilst on lock down?

Q. Do I still need to meet Family Court deadlines whilst on lock down?

A. As explained in our Q&A on 25 March 2020, the Courts are still open, with there being a clear expectation that court deadlines and hearings are still complied with as far as possible.  Being in lock down is not a reason in itself to miss deadlines.

Your best efforts should therefore be taken to adhere to all court deadlines, with documents being lodged with the court via email, rather than post, where needed and appropriate.  Most solicitors and professionals have now received guidance from their local courts on the best email addresses to use and to ensure an effective use of remote methods for filing documents.

If a Court deadline is missed, Court sanctions can still be applied and costs orders still made in due course. It is therefore important to check that any missed deadline will be considered reasonable and with just cause.  

However, in these unprecedented times, there will of course need to be some degree of flexibility in some cases, but not all. For example, if someone is unwell or requires disclosure from banks and third parties, which is not viable at this time.  In such circumstances, there are then various considerations required. The starting points being:

• Will you being late with a court deadline disturb the wider court timetable and/or hearing date?
• Do you need to inform the court at this time?
• Can you agree a revised date / timetable with the other side?
• Could you comply with part of the deadline?

The general guidance at the moment seems to be that the courts do not want notice about every case where someone cannot legitimately comply with a deadline. Parties are therefore expected to sort it directly and apply common sense. The court also do not currently require or want the parties to inform them of missed deadlines, unless they are going to directly impact a listed hearing.

At this time, the courts need to prioritise urgent matters and hearings.

If you are in a situation where it is likely you will miss or have missed a deadline due to Covid–19, please ask one of our solicitors for advice.