What Happens At An FDR Hearing?

What is an FDR?

The FDR hearing (or Financial Dispute Resolution Hearing) is generally the second hearing that takes place once a party has made an application for a financial remedy as part of divorce proceedings.

Our firm mostly has FDR hearings that take place at the Central Family Court in London. Hearings may also be at courts closer to where one party lives. A list of all courts and their addresses can be found here.

The purpose of the FDR hearing is to facilitate and explore settlement negotiations between the parties, in the hope that an overall agreement can be reached and costly further litigation avoided. The general rule of thumb that family lawyers often advise their clients of is that legal costs can double from the point of the FDR to the conclusion of a final hearing. This unfortunate reality can sometimes help to incentivise parties to fully engage in having a successful FDR, and as such the hearing represents an opportunity for both parties to take an "all cards on the table" approach to the negotiations.

What is 'Without Prejudice'?

In order to facilitate this approach, the FDR hearing, together with all discussions that take place between the parties' legal representatives outside of courtroom at the hearing, are conducted on a "without prejudice" basis. This means that if the parties are not able to reach an agreement, then their respective positions and any offers communicated to the other side during the course of the hearing are kept private thereafter (save for any further without prejudice communications), and cannot be referred to at any subsequent hearings, including in the event that the matter were to proceed to a final hearing. Further, the FDR judge will not be permitted to continue with the case following the conclusion of the FDR if the case has not settled, and a new judge will be appointed for the final hearing.

What to do before the FDR

In order for the FDR to be used as an effective forum for settlement, the financial disclosure process must be complete. In other words, both parties should be comfortable that they have a full and detailed understanding of the other's financial circumstances.

If full disclosure has not taken place, or one party considers that the other has failed to disclose an accurate picture of all of their financial affairs, it can be difficult for settlement discussions to be effective; both parties need to feel that they have the "full picture" in respect of the family finances to...