MANCHESTER FAMILY COURT EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CURRENT NATIONAL HEALTH EMERGENCY

21/04/2020

***IMPORTANT NOTICE***

MANCHESTER FAMILY COURT

EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CURRENT NATIONAL HEALTH EMERGENCY

We are increasing the use of telephone, skype for business, video and other technology to continue as many hearings as possible remotely. Face to face hearings will only be held in exceptional circumstances. This means that you do not need to attend court unless you have been instructed to do so.

1. WHAT IF I HAVE A HEARING LISTED?

Most cases will be suitable for a telephone hearing which means you will not need to attend court. The Judges will consider all the cases listed for hearing and you may be contacted by the court to make arrangements for a telephone hearing.

As you will appreciate, the court staff are working incredibly hard to contact all the parties for all the cases, so don’t worry if you don’t hear anything until a few days before the hearing date. There will be no need to make a formal application at this time or pay a fee.

Contact details – Please ensure that the court has up-to date contact information for you, particularly a telephone number. Please let us know as soon as possible by email if your contact details have changed to [email protected] please include your case number, name and the date of the hearing.

It is important to note that when the court calls you, it is likely that the screen will show ‘No Caller ID’. If you are representing a party please talk to the other party/parties and try to agree arrangements for a remote hearing.

2. WHAT HAPPENS AT A TELEPHONE HEARING.

At the date and time of the hearing the Court will call you. It is important you are ready to accept the call at the time of the hearing, so that you can take part. If you do not answer the call, the hearing may go ahead, and a decision made in your absence.
Please try to be in a private quiet area so that you are not overheard and can hear everything.
Sometimes the Court may be busy and the hearing may be slightly later than originally planned. Please remain available.
As your case is a private matter involving your children the hearing will be held privately, you must do all that you can to make sure that you are in a private location when you are on the telephone hearing and you must be prepared to tell the judge who else is in the room at the time of the call. Under no circumstances should the children be in the room with you whilst you are on the hearing.

For further details please visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hmcts-telephone-and-video-hearings-during-coronavirus-outbreak

WHAT HAPPENS AT A SKYPE HEARING.

At the date and time of the hearing: – You will receive an email invitation from an HM Courts Skype email address inviting you to attend a Skype meeting.
It is important that you monitor your emails and join at the time of the hearing, so that you can take part. If you do not join the hearing, it may still go ahead and a decision made in your absence.
Please try to be in a private quiet area so that you are overheard and hear everything.
Sometimes the court may be busy and the hearing may be slightly later than originally planned. Please remain available.
As your case is a private matter involving your children the hearing will be held privately, you must do all you can to make sure that you are in a private location when you are on the skype hearing and you must be prepared to tell the judge who else is in the room at the time of the call. Under no circumstances should the children be in the room with you whilst you are on the hearing.
Sometimes the facility it is set up for an hour or so before so that discussions can take place.
Please remember to mute you microphone when you are not speaking to eradicate unnecessary noise and interference on the line.

WHAT IF I NEED A MON-MOLESTATION ORDER?

Please email [email protected] and we will send you the guidance to make this application and have a telephone hearing with the Judge. For further information please visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/applying-for-a-domestic-violence-family-law-act-injunction-for-unrepresented-applicants

IF YOU ARE A LAWYER REPRESENTING A PARTY WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

if you have a forthcoming hearing, please talk to the other party/parties and try to agree arrangements for a remote hearing.
The Judges are usually able to hear cases on the phone or by video conferencing.
Tell the Court what arrangements you have made and how the Judge can access the hearing.

5. HOW DO I LODGE DOCUMENTS FOR MY HEARING?

The preferred option is correspondence/documents to be filed by email as most hearings will be dealt with remotely. Many of the Judges are working remotely and it saves time getting documents to them quickly. Bundles should be filed electronically in the usual manner with no more than 350 pages of text. Bundles will not be rejected if they are larger than this if necessary they can be filed in 2 parts. Please email your bundle to [email protected] It is not necessary to mark your email as urgent even if listed for a hearing.

WHAT IF A CHILD IS AT RISK OF HARM?

Your first point of call should be the police or Children’s services at the County Council. If you need an emergency Order please call the emergency line on 0161 240 5000 and we will assist you. This line is for emergencies only and we will not deal with general queries in this line. All general enquires should be made on 0161 240 5484

7. I HAVE REQUESTED A COPY OF MY DECREE ABSOLUTE

Unfortunately, at this time we do not have the capacity or staff resources to deal with these requests. Please submit your application at a later date.

I AM WAITING FOR A COURT ORDER/APPLICATION

We are working hard in the court office to deal with relisting of hearings and urgent matters. We ask for your patience at this time. Unless your matter is considered urgent, there may be a delay in dealing with it.

MY E-MAIL HAS NOT BEEN RESPONDED TO

We are dealing with a high volume of emails. Please limit your correspondence to urgent matters only or documents for hearings. We cannot at this time deal with general correspondence and would request that you do not copy the court into correspondence between parties.

ADOPTION PROCEEDINGS

We will accept adoption applications however please note that in the current circumstances there may be a delay in issuing.

Finally, we thank you for your patience at this extremely difficult time and we send our best wishes to all the court users and stakeholders. Please stay at home, stay safe and look after yourself and your families. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/