Guidance

Quick guide for using contested financial remedy services with MyHMCTS

Published 6 February 2024

1. Before you start

Before you can access financial remedy services using MyHMCTS, you and your organisation must have completed other steps:

1. Set up an HMCTS Payment by Account (so that you can pay any relevant fees)
2. Register your organisation with MyHMCTS
3. Set up your MyHMCTS user account

The MyHMCTS registration guidance has further information and instructions. If your organisation has an account already, contact the administrator to arrange for your account creation.

Once you have a MyHMCTS account, you can sign in using your email address and password.

You should only use this guide as a quick reference to remind you about the most common and useful things to remember when using contested financial remedy services with MyHMCTS.

When using MyHMCTS to manage cases, you should refer to the full guidance on financial remedy services

2. Access a case

Solicitors

You can access the cases directly by using the notice of change service on MyHMCTS.

You will need the:

• contested financial remedy case number
• divorce case number
• name of the party you represent

Barristers

You will be added to the case by the instructing solicitor, who should use the ‘manage barrister’ function in MyHMCTS.

If the party you are representing has instructed you directly, you or they must give the court your details, who will provide you access to the case.

Interveners

The court will give you access to the case. As an intervener solicitor or barrister, your view is limited to only your documents tab and documents that are shared with you.

You can find more guidance on managing an intervener case.

3. Manage documents and bundles

You should upload Word documents where possible and without any draft watermarks. You should not upload any protected PDF documents.

Uploading watermarked documents and protected PDFs can cause errors and delays. It can block amendments to orders by the judge, leading to more regular rejections.

You must use the general application function to make all interim applications, do not upload them as a document.

MyHMCTS will recognise who you represent and upload your document to the corresponding documents tab, unless you have selected that it is confidential or about a financial dispute resolution (FDR).

The judge may not be able to locate your documents if you select the incorrect option. Once uploaded, only the court can remove a document.

Applicant and respondent documents

You must upload all your client’s documents, such as:

• case summaries
• statements
• form E
• questionnaires

To do this:

1. Select the ‘upload case files’ option from the next steps dropdown.

2. Answer ‘no’ to confidentiality and FDR questions.

The documents will appear in the corresponding applicant or respondent documents tab. This tab cannot be seen by the other party’s representative.

Confidential documents

Do not select confidential if you are only waiting to exchange documents. Other parties cannot see your uploaded documents until you select to share them.

You should only select a document as confidential if it is not to be seen by anyone except the court. This will most commonly be for anything containing confidential addresses.

To upload confidential documents, select ‘upload case file’ and select ‘yes’ to ‘Is this a confidential document?’.

The documents will appear in a confidential documents tab that only the court can see.

Share documents

When you want to make documents available to the other parties, use the ‘share documents’ function.

This will duplicate any documents not marked as confidential in the ‘shared documents’ tab. Only you, the court and the other party’s solicitor can see this.

If you select any interveners, the document will be copied into their documents tabs to view.

Case documents

The case document tab displays documents that are created by the system on issue. It also holds some items only visible to the court, such as scanned documents and internal correspondence.

FDR documents

For FDR hearings, you should upload all relevant documents to the FDR documents tab, including:

• position statements
• ES1
• ES2
• without prejudice offers

To do this, select ‘upload case file’ and answer ‘yes’ to ‘Is this a financial dispute resolution (FDR) document?’.

You must upload the FDR bundle to the FDR tab using the ‘manage hearing bundle’ function.

Hearing bundle

You must upload all bundles into the correct hearing bundle tab by using ‘manage hearing bundle’. You can also use this function to amend your bundle.

Your bundle must be compliant with PD27A of the FPR 2010 and fewer than 350 pages. You must get permission from the court to exceed the page limit.

The bundle should be in PDF format and named with the hearing date and the hearing type – for example, ‘3.3.2023.FDA hearing’.

The hearing bundle tab is only visible once a bundle is lodged.

4. Correspondence

If you have correspondence to send to the court where you are asking for a response (outside of the general application or draft order processes) you must email it to the court.

5. General applications

You must use the general application function to make all interim applications, including those made by consent.

Includes application:

• to adjourn or vacate a hearing
• to instruct an expert
• for specific disclosure
• maintenance pending suite (MPS) or legal service payment order (LSPO)

Any applications you make will appear in the general applications tab.

You should upload the draft order as a Word document when you make your application.

The court will contact you for payment when they receive your application.

6. Orders

Consent orders to finalise contested proceedings

You must only select the consent order option for final consent orders to finalise the proceedings. Do not use this for interim orders or orders following hearings.

To lodge a final consent order, select ‘consent order’ and upload a copy of:

• consent order
• D81 form
• any pension documents that should be considered

You must upload all of these within the consent order section of the process so they can be grouped. Do not upload any of these documents in a later step.

Pre-hearing orders

If you want to file any pre-hearing proposed draft orders before a hearing, you must use the ‘upload case files’ function. It will sit with other case documents.

Post hearing orders

After a contested hearing, the judge will give directions for how you or the other party’s representative should lodge the finalised order.

This may be by email between the judge and representatives – the judge will arrange for the finalised approved order to be uploaded.

Alternatively, the judge may direct you or the other party’s solicitor to upload the order. The judge will then approve the order on MyHMCTS.

To upload an agreed order for approval, you must:

• add the name of the judge to the draft order
• prepare the order in Word format, without watermarks or protection added as the court may need to make any necessary amendments

In MyHMCTS, you should:

1. Select ‘upload draft order’.

2. Select ‘add new’.

3. Select ‘choose file’ to access your documents and attach the agreed draft order.

For the full guidance see Managing a case – contested.

7. Get help with MyHMCTS

When using MyHMCTS to manage cases, you should refer to the full guidance on financial remedy services.

You should always check for any notifications in MyHMCTS about updates that you may not have expected.

If you need help with your case, contact the financial remedy court (FRC) or local hearing venue managing your application.

If you see an error message in MyHMCTS that you cannot resolve, or if you have feedback on how we can improve, contact the HMCTS Financial Remedy Service Team at HMCTSFinancialRemedy@justice.gov.uk.

You will find further support information in the full guidance.