As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, online remote hearings in family proceedings have become the preferred option. While restrictions are easing and in-person Court hearings have returned, remote court hearings are here to stay. Remote court hearings can be a more comfortable environment for many people, not to mention more convenient where you are not based in the UK. In this article, we look at how remote hearings in family law cases work and address some of the most common questions.
What is a remote hearing?
A remote hearing is a hearing which takes place online using modern technology, rather than in a court building. Typically, parties involved in a remote hearing can attend the hearing from their own home via a video conference or phone call.
What if I am unable to attend a remote hearing?
While remote hearings are designed to keep everyone safe and make attending a hearing more straightforward, there are of course circumstances which may prevent you from attending a remote hearing, for example, lack of internet access. If you cannot attend your remote hearing, you should get in contact with the court as soon as possible, and they will try to help you resolve your issues. The judge will make a decision about whether the hearing will go ahead on the scheduled date or whether it should be adjourned.
If you are due to attend a family court hearing, the judge decides the hearing is to go ahead, and you do not attend the hearing, the court may make decisions without your input.
How should I prepare to attend a remote family hearing?
Attending a hearing can be stressful, but with a small amount of preparation, you can help to make the process run as seamlessly as possible. It is important to find a quiet space where you will not be disturbed and you cannot be overheard. You want to be free to discuss the important issues at play in your case. If you live with other people, you should make arrangements with them to ensure you are not interrupted.
While it sounds obvious, the stress of attending a family hearing may cause you to forget the basics. As a quick reminder, remember to check that your device is fully charged and plugged into a power source. We would advise that you mute your microphone during the hearing when you are not speaking to limit any background noise.
Your solicitor will provide you with a court bundle via email and you should have this to hand before the hearing starts. You may wish to print the bundle for easy access.
Are remote hearings different to in-person hearings?
It is important to understand that besides being held online, remote hearings are almost exactly the same as in-person hearings. There are strict rules which apply to remote hearings and although you are in your own home, you must not eat, drink or smoke during the hearing.
Keeping victims of domestic abuse safe during remote hearings
If you have been a victim of domestic abuse, we understand that attending a remote hearing may be overwhelming. You should let the court know as soon as possible that you would like them to make arrangements for your safety. There is clear guidance for keeping victims of domestic abuse – whether the abuse has been proven in court or not.
The court may provide you with instructions on how to blur your background or enable a generic background which will prevent your abuser from identifying your location. You may also attend the hearing with your camera off and simply attend the hearing with audio only.
If you are giving evidence, the court may ask you to turn your camera on, but they may ask the other party to turn their camera off so that you cannot see them. If you are not giving evidence during the hearing because it is not required and you are represented by a lawyer, the court may excuse you from the remote hearing. In these circumstances, your lawyer will take instructions from you beforehand or over the phone.
Contact our Family Solicitors in London, Manchester & Birmingham
In this challenging time, our specialist team of family law solicitors can offer you expert advice and representation when it comes to remote family law hearings. We understand this may be a stressful time for you, but we are here to guide you through. For an initial consultation, call the International Family Solicitors at IMD Solicitors on 0330 107 0107 or request a call back.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.
F v F - Acted for a German husband in a complex financial remedy matter. He decided to instruct IMD Solicitors after he had lost trust in his previously instructed solicitors and feared that he would not achieve a favourable outcome from the proceedings. The relevant assets were spread across the globe with some located in the UK (including a multi-million pound business), Gibraltar, Spain, Dubai, and Poland. The overall value of assets exceeded £24 million. The husband had been cut off from the matrimonial assets and excluded from control of the business that had been established by his family. The case involved the instruction of numerous experts, for business valuations, Capital Gains Tax reports, and opinions on the enforcement of orders in foreign jurisdictions, and dealing with several applications, including applications for orders to freeze assets, prevent the disposition of assets, for the joinder of parties, and to litigate conduct issues. The final result exceeded the client’s expectations.
L v L - We were instructed by a mother in a complex international children matter. She was required by orders of the UK courts to return the child to the UK from Poland. She had travelled with the child to Poland but, following unsuccessful application to extend her stay there in August 2017, she decided not to return to the UK because the child disclosed sexual abuse by a member of the paternal family and the father. In September 2018, the Polish court dismissed the father’s Hague Convention application for the child's return on the basis of Article 13(b), a decision which the father appealed. In March 2019, the father applied to the UK High Court for an order for the child’s return pursuant to the procedure set out in Article 11(6) – (8) of the Brussels IIA Regulation. Despite the father's unsuccessful Hague Convention application in Poland, the UK court ordered the return of the child. Article 11 does not allow the court of the returning country much discretion. After all of this, the mother instructed IMD Solicitors to apply to discharge the orders of the UK Court for the return of the child. Even in the face of the fact that most applications to discharge such return orders fail, we succeeded. We are currently awaiting a decision in the UK courts on a further application for the transfer of jurisdiction to the Polish courts where the mother resides with the child.
G v P - We represent a Spanish mother in respect of an urgent application for a Child Arrangements Order and Specific Issue Order in the UK seeking the relocation of the child to Spain. This was after the return of the child to the UK under Hague Convection proceedings which this mother lost in Spain.
She was asking for an order for the relocation of the child back to Spain and an urgent interim Child Arrangements Order to allow her to see the child pending the final outcome of the UK proceedings. IMD successfully argued that, regardless of the return of the child to the UK under the Hague Convention, the mother should be allowed unsupervised overnight contact with the child. We were delighted to be able to secure her contact with the child for Christmas and she said that it was the best Christmas gift she could have wished for. The outcome of the application for the relocation is pending.
S v V - We currently represent the father in Child Arrangements Order proceedings issued by the mother in relation to variation of a UK order made in the face of numerous other international proceedings. He is an Italian National who has been living in France for the last 20 years and the mother is a Lithuanian national. The child is now 11 years old and proceedings concerning the child have been ongoing in various jurisdictions for the majority of the child`s life. Contested divorce proceedings including child arrangements took place in Monaco. The French Court and authorities were also involved, and various proceedings had been ongoing between parties since 2013 in France and Monaco.
The parties’ divorce was pronounced in Monaco. Thereafter, in December 2020, the mother submitted an application to relocate to England with the child, and the relocation took place in June 2021. Upon relocation, the she lodged a child arrangement order application, seeking to register a judgment made in Monaco and to vary the same in respect of the contact arrangements between the father and the child. The father seeks for the child’s return to Monaco.
Due to the parties’ mutual allegations and the associated international elements, various authorities and courts that have been involved in the case, the local authority has become involved with the family and a guardian has been instructed to represent the child in the UK proceedings. At present, these proceedings in England are ongoing and the outcome of the professional reports regarding the family are awaited.
P v P - We have acted for the Respondent Husband in relation to the financial remedy proceedings in the UK. The parties had various assets in the UK and Romania consisting mainly of the portfolio of properties but conduct issues were raised by the Wife due to a business of the Husband over which she had lost control and her allegations of dissipation of assets. The value of assets excluding the business were in a region of £3 million.
K v K - We act in financial remedy proceedings for a wife who is a Polish national. The matter's complexity mainly comes from a dispute between the parties around land in Poland. Its value was initially in dispute but was then assessed by a joint expert to be in the region of half a million pounds. The total assets in this case are estimated to be worth over £1 million. The land in Poland is a subject to contract with a third party and is being leased as a photovoltaic (solar) farm. The division of the land to achieve an equal share of the assets is complicated due to the contract in place and plans for the future use of the land. Currently the parties are awaiting a final hearing but efforts are being made to reach a settlement with the aid of alternative dispute resolution and in order to save the parties money and avoid further delays.
R v O - We acted pro bono and worked together with a law firm in Poland to ensure that the Costa Rican Mother regains access to her child. The Mother's only child was abducted from the UK in 2014. The Mother was successful with the abduction case and the UK family courts ordered the return of the child. The orders were recognised in Poland but unfortunately due to various issues with the Mother's immigration status and court's delays in Poland, the orders were never enforced. The Mother was facing removal from the UK and prospects of never seeing her child again. We have corresponded with various courts in Poland dealing with international abduction matters and we decided that an application for contact should be issued rather than any proceedings for further enforcement of the orders, as the Mother had not seen the child for around 7 years. At the same we secured the Mother's stay in the UK making successful outside of immigration rules application to extend her stay. We now receive regular photos from the Mother with her daughter, as face to face contact is taking place. We helped to secure an order of the Polish courts for the Mother to see the child regularly in person, whilst when she instructed us she was facing a prospect of never seeing her child again and being deported to Costa Rica.
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