Financial remedies proceedings will be able to be reported on in three courts in the latest move to improve transparency in the family courts.
Journalists and legal bloggers will be able to report on financial remedies proceedings in the Financial Remedies Court as part of the reporting pilot launched by president of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane and announced today 20 December 2023.
The FRC reporting pilot will initially cover only the Central Family Court in London, Birmingham and Leeds. The plan will be to roll this out more widely at a later date.
It is the latest announcement following the planned ‘Transparency in the Family Court’ review, published in 2021. The plan is ‘committed to achieving better and purposeful transparency in the family court, to increase understanding and scrutiny of the system’.
As part of the pilot, hearing lists for all FRC courts, including cases heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, will now name the parties and state that the proceedings involve financial remedies. This means that your financial remedies case is no longer going to remain confidential. Personal & financial details can now be reported upon and potentially become public knowledge.
Financial dispute resolution (FDR) hearings will not be included. These remain private & confidential.
The new Financial Remedy Court reporting pilot will start from 29 January 2024.
If you are concerned about the particular circumstances of your own matter it is still possible to make an application to the court asking for the hearing to remain confidential. If this is something that concerns you, contact us to discuss your circumstances.
