[Solved] Court Bundle for Fact finding hearing and costs

Hi bobbya,

In terms of the Court bundle, the Court (Judge) has correctly identified that they are the ones who compile the bundle.

You won't be required to meet any costs. You can simply refuse and stipulate it is not your responsibility to complete the file 4 and equally you cannot be charged for it.

Go with what the Judge says.

what if the judge says I should later on?

Hi,

I would simply refuse and say that it is the standard practice that the legally qualified representative is responsible for arranging and submitting the file bundle. Also you as LIP (Litigant in Person) should not be responsible for this.

In my time of learning about family courts i've never once heard of a LIP being charged by the defence for them to pay half the costs. Its absurd.

Worst case scenario if the Judge does say you will meet half the costs, say to the Judge that you will deal with issue of the File 4 (Court Bundle)

Come back on here and we can give pointers, it then costs you £0.

Well the Court already put down in the Court notes back in August, that the respondents would be sorting the Court bundle, and that was my argument to the defense last time, was that the Court already ordered it and if they were going to charge, we would do it at zero cost.
Court bundle is already being prepared ready for the 28th January, Judge on last directions hearing said she wouldnt dicusss the costs at this stage . .have to wait and see I guess, and point out that as LIP I shouldn;t be responsible, equally that the judge ordered them to do it.

I wanted to ask aswell, when should I receive a copy of this bundle and what should it contain?
They are saying they will send me draft protocol docs 1 week before the trial !! this doesn't leave me a lot of time to receive it, check all docs and query before the trial if needs be.

Can you advise what the rule is with bundles

bump

Hi,

If that is what the directions state that is what they should be doing.

Costs are irrelevant when the directions are so clear.

For the File 4 this should be submitted to the Court by a date set in the directions. Please be aware that if you are due to receive the file bundle by a certain date, you need to contact the Court to check if they have received it. It is very common for the defence to either i) just not issue the Court bundle or ii) not issue it until the day and this can often result in an adjournment.

If the bundle isn't there you need to email the Court to request that they look at chasing up the bundle that they were set to submit as part of the directions at the last hearing.

Thats the odd thing, no time was set, just said that they would be responsible for doing it

When I went from being represented by a solicitor to representing myself (LIP) my ex’s solicitor/barrister was instructed by the judge to file the bundle by a set date….about a week before that date I got a draft copy to ensure that i was happy with what was included in it.

When I sent my position statement to them to include in the bundle I had added a couple of pages of photos at the back of me and my little one playing, out having fun, sat reading (one my mother caught of us together just a great pic!) generally of him smiling and enjoying himself doing whatever we were doing.
When I received the copy of the bundle they had not included the photos ….everything else was correct….but when I spoke with them they said that they were not relevant…. I insisted they were as they show me and my little one enjoying time together… “a picture speaks a thousand words” as the saying goes! Although yes they can be staged too!
Anyway….the rest of the bundle was fine….i sent it them back and when I received the final copy that they sent me and the court the photos were still not included but I did take copies with me and gave them to the judge when I said that the bundle was missing some items I’d specifically asked to be included.

I think the judge just flicked through them and I guess that they aren’t really that relevant in the grand scheme of things but are good to show you and the kids interacting or the sort of things you do together.

I’d get in contact with them and ask when you will receive a draft of the bundle to approve before they send anything out to the court!

I have already done a position statement earlier on and was just going to take the photos with me on the day. That way I have a little secret weapon they don't know about.
When its my tun to speak, I will give the judge a brief background and say I am now married and my wife has a 5yr old child, we live together and I have pics if the Court would like to pay regards to them. That way even if the judge says no, the judge will know there will have been pics of me with a child and therefore I am safe with children . . .
Just hope they send it on time,