Fact finding hearings form part of a series of hearings which lead up to a final hearing; where the court decides what final child arrangements ought to be made in respect of the child(ren) concerned.
A fact-finding hearing is essentially a tool which the family court uses to make findings in relation to any disputed allegation of domestic abuse.
Once findings are made, they serve to assist the court and Cafcass/ the respective local authority in making their decisions and recommendations for the purposes of the final hearing.
How to address allegations set out in a Scott schedule:
The allegations upon which the court is asked to make a decision are set out in a document called the Scott schedule.
The party making the allegation should aim to be as precise as possible in their allegations. Vague allegations such as “the applicant/ respondent was rude to me on several occasions“ are likely to be removed from the Scott schedule at a pre-trial review.
Similarly, incidents dating many years back are also likely to be removed at the pre-trial review stage of proceedings.
If a party is seeking to respond to an allegation which is clearly made out, it is usually advisable for them to accept their wrongdoing. i.e. if an applicant alleges that the respondent sent them an indecent/ inappropriate text message on a certain date, and a screenshot of that text message has been included in the hearing bundle which corroborates the allegation, it is unlikely that there would merit in any challenge to the allegation.
In such circumstances, a challenge to such allegations is likely to lead the judge to take a negative view of the respondent, and risks a finding that the respondent is unable to accept responsibility for their actions, and is therefore unable to recognise the negative impact of their actions.
Such a finding will negatively impact their case.
The hearing:
Preparing and submitting evidence in support of your allegations/ responses is usually half of the work that’s to be done.
The remaining half is how well the parties perform when being questioned during the hearing. The hard work put into the preparation of Scott schedules and obtaining evidence can always fall away if a party or their witness performs poorly when in the witness box.
Parties must always remember to be clear, concise, relevant and direct in their responses to questions asked of them, be they by the judge, their own legal representative, or another legal representative.
Any other approach will be viewed as evasive.
Conclusion:
As explained above, in my view, half of the case is won through meticulous pre-hearing preparation, and the other half is won on the day of the hearing.
For expert advice and assistance regarding fact finding hearings, or to arrange representation for a fact-finding hearing, contact Zubair through the contact page on this website. Zubair is a family barrister who can help with any aspect of family disputes, such as child arrangements, divorce, and matrimonial finance. He is qualified to accept instructions from members of the public, also known as direct access.
