Notice

Family Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2020 - October 2020 update

Changes to the Family Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2020 come into force on 1 October 2020.

• From: Family Procedure Rule Committee and Ministry of Justice
• Published: 1 October 2020

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

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Details

The Family Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2020 replaces the existing Part of the Family Procedure Rules (FPR) relating to contempt of court proceedings with a new streamlined Part mirroring the approach which has been taken for the corresponding Part of the Civil Procedure Rules.

This rule comes into force on 1 October 2020.

The Family Procedure Rule Committee has also made the following supplementary Practice Direction amendments:

• provide the consequential amendments that ensure that references to contempt proceedings are correctly referred to across the FPR 2010. (These will be achieved through amendments to PD5A, PD17A and PD33A)
• provide further guidance on points of procedure pertinent to family proceedings, through an accompanying Practice Direction 37A. These will:

I. clarify that witness statements may not be used against the defendant in the contempt application unless, and until, the defendant chooses to use them in support of the defendant’s case;
II. clarify that the court may strike out procedural defects in certain circumstances;
III. clarify the effect of two provisions in new rule 37.8.

These changes take effect from 1 October 2020.

View Statutory Instrument No. 758 (L.18)

Published 1 October 2020