Sending Documents And Files To The Family Court
During child proceedings and financial proceedings, you will be required to send paperwork to the court including application forms, acknowledgement forms, identity papers, statements and disclosure documents like bank statements to name a few.
Before we discuss the methods available to you to send your paperwork to the family court, please remember the following 3 important points:
POINT 1 – Please keep a copy of every application form, statement, attachment, bank statement or anything else that you send to the family court for yourself.
POINT 2 – Know the correct contact details of the family court that is dealing with your divorce, your child arrangements proceedings and financial settlement proceedings
LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR FIND YOUR LOCAL FAMILY COURT
POINT 3 – No matter which method you use to give the family court your paperwork, please get a receipt, proof of delivery or dispatch or any evidence to show that you have done so.
POST VIA ROYAL MAIL
You can send your paperwork to the court by Royal Mail post.
1. Send your paperwork in an A4 envelope so your paperwork arrives unfolded. If you are sending a letter (one piece of paper) then you can use a DL envelope.
2. Always send your envelope of paperwork to the court by ‘signed for’ recorded delivery (first or second class). You will get a tracking number. You can log onto the Royal Mail website, input your tracking number and monitor the progress of your envelope. When it arrives at the family court, they will sign for it. This will be displayed on the website when you input your tracking number.
3. If you decide to send a large heavy envelope with lots of paperwork to the court then please make sure your envelope is strong to hold the paperwork together.
DELIVER TO THE FAMILY COURT DROP BOX BY HAND
Most family courts have a drop box on site where you can post your envelope. The 2 local family courts in our area have different drop boxes. One has a drop box near the main door with the letterbox to the drop box outside the building. Anyone can drop an envelope using this drop box. The other family court has a square cabinet with a letter box at the top inside the main reception of the court.
We suggest that if you use this method you video record yourself posting your envelope through the letterbox. This is proof you did this so if the court loses your envelope you have proof you did post it. However, for the cabinet inside the reception the security guard at the court may not allow you to film yourself dropping the envelope into the drop box. You can always ask.
Please note the following –
- Some court drop boxes are emptied once a day in the morning between 9.00am and 10.00am. If you have posted your envelope on Wednesday 03rd April after the drop box has been emptied, the court will receive it on Thursday 04th April and stamp it as arrived on Thursday 04th April or the next day the court is officially open. This point is very important when you have a deadline to deliver paperwork ordered by a judge or for an appeal. If Wednesday 03rd April is the deadline then you must post the envelope by the latest Tuesday 02nd April so the court stamps it as arrived on Wednesday 03rd April.
- Other drop boxes in other courts are emptied at 4.30pm. If you have posted your envelope before 4.30pm on Wednesday 03rd April the court will stamp it has arrived on Wednesday 03rd April. If you have posted your envelope after 4.30pm on Wednesday 03rd April then it will be stamped by the court as having arrived on Thursday 04th April or the next day the court is officially open.
Please call, email or visit the court to ask when they empty the contents of their drop box.
BY COURIER
This option is available, however it is expensive. You will get proof that your paperwork was delivered.
Couriers are often used by solicitors and barrister to send A4 bundles to the court for court hearings.
BY EMAIL
Most correspondence sent to the family court is by email. If you email your paperwork to the court there is automatic proof that you have sent your paperwork.
1. Please ensure you have the correct email address for the court.
LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR FIND YOUR LOCAL COURT
2. Please write your full name and case number in the subject line of the email.
3. Explain in the body of the email what you are sending and why. Please include your name, the other party’s name, all your contact details and the date and time of any upcoming hearings the paperwork relates to if it does..
4. Attach any paperwork you would like to send to the email.
5. If you are attaching a document which has a signed statement of truth then please keep the original with the original signature. You can send one of the following versions to the court:
- You can send a scanned copy of the original document with the original statement and original signature.
- You can send a copy where the name of the person who has signed the statement of truth is typed under the statement.
- You can sign the statement by electronic means.
6. The email and any attachments must not exceed 25 megabytes.
7. Any attachments must not exceed 50 A4 sides or 25 pages. Any Cafcass correspondence does not form part of your 50 A4 sides. You are welcome to ask the court if they will make an exception and let you send more than 50 A4 sides via email but generally they do not. If you have more than 50 A4 sides to send to the court, you can ask them if they will accept them attached to more than 1 email.
8. You can send an application form to the family court by email if you intend to pay the fee by credit card, debit card or have a ‘help with fees’ number written on the form or already given to the court.
9. For the format of the attachments please click on the following link which lists every format the court will accept.
LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR FAMILY COURT EMAIL GUIDANCE
In case you cannot access the above webpage we have taken a part of the webpage and detailed it below for you.
Document file types
- Rich Text Format files (.rtf)
- Plain/Formatted Text files (.txt)
- Hypertext documents files (.htm)
- Microsoft Word viewer/reader files (.doc) minimum Word ’97 format
- Adobe Acrobat files (.pdf) minimum viewer version 4
Spreadsheet file types
- Hypertext document files (.htm)
- Delimited files (.csv)
Presentation file types
- Hypertext document files (.htm)
General and compressed file types
- Zipped (Compressed) files (.zip, .gz, .tgz, .tar)
Graphics file types
- Joint Photographic Experts Group (ISO 10918) files (.jpg)
Vector graphics file types
- Scalable Vector Graphics files (.svg)
10. If you send your email before 4.00pm on Wednesday 03rd April the court will deem it as arrived on Wednesday 03rd April. If you send it after 4.00pm the court will deem it has arrived on Thursday 04th April or the next day the court is officially open.
11. Please do not send password protected emails and paperwork to the court. You can supply the password but the court generally does not accept this method.
12. Generally the family court will not accept paperwork sent by ‘We transfer’. However,you can ask.
13. Generally the family court will not accept paperwork sent by Google Drive. However, you can ask.
14. Generally the family court will not accept paperwork sent by ‘Safe Drop’. However, you can ask.
15. If you have sent your paperwork by email you do not need to send a hardcopy by post.
16. You cannot send any adoption proceedings paperwork by email.