A message from:

Kevin Sadler
Deputy Chief Executive and Courts and Tribunals Development Director – HM Courts & Tribunals Service

Sir James Munby
President of the Family Division

In our letter dated 27th April 2017 we announced plans to conduct a pilot in the South West Region to administratively de-link financial proceedings from divorce proceedings.

We are pleased to say that the pilot has been successful and achieved its aim of introducing a more streamlined process which reduces the delays currently experienced by court users as files are transferred between courts by up to two weeks.

Feedback from the pilot has been extremely positive and the decision has therefore been made to proceed with national roll out of the new process to all Courts in England and Wales on 19th June 2017.

Throughout the pilot HMCTS have been working closely with single points of contact in each Region to ensure that Divorce centres and local hearing centres are ready for national roll out. Clear guidance has been developed to explain the changes in the administrative process.

We would like to thank all members of HMCTS staff and judiciary involved in the pilot for their positivity and commitment towards making the pilot a success and paving the way for the national roll out of this improved process.