Practitioners have been kept waiting for too long for improvements to the Family Proceedings Rules, says David Burrows
In 1995, Lord Woolf began a comprehensive review of civil courts’ procedures. His committee produced two wide-ranging sets of reports. The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 were made in consequence. These rules came into force on 1 April 1999, but did not at that stage apply to family proceedings (CPR 1998 r 2.2(1)). Nearly 10 years later, as a lawyer whose work is in mostly family proceedings, I still have—of necessity, and for occasional reference—my 1998 Green Book (containing County Court Rules 1981) and a 1999 White Book (Rules of the Supreme Court 1965). The Family Court Practice still reproduces parts of both sets of rules; and many family lawyers will probably only rarely have to look at the 1998 rules.
On 22 February 2008 the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) with Her Majesty’s Court Service produced Family Proceedings Rules: A new Procedural Code for Family Proceedings, a response to consultation CP(R) 19/06 . I fear, this document goes nowhere doing what its title suggests.
