Your application form will show the date of the hearing, the location of the Court house, the number of the Court and the time of the hearing. It will usually be 10.30am or 11.45am. You should go to the Court for this time. At the time, there will be an announcement in the Court which will sound something like this:-
“This is the 10.30 callover for Court 20. If you have a page or slip showing your case is in Court 20, please come to Court 20 now. Court 20 is on the second floor”.
At this point you will go to Court 20 for the callover. The judge will be sitting at the top of the room and their registrar (or assistant) will be sitting in front of them. This gives the judge an opportunity to see which applicant/ respondent have shown up for their hearing. The Registrar will read through the list of cases. They will not read the full names but instead will just call out the record number of the case and use initials, so for example, they will call out “Record number 111/2018, A.B. and C.D”. This is to protect the identity of the parties.
When the Registrar calls out your case and you have a solicitor, they will tell the judge that you are there and they are representing you. The other party will also identify themselves to the Court at this point. The judge will then ask if the matter is going ahead or whether it is to be struck out.
Once the Registrar gets to the end of the list, everyone will leave the Court apart from the parties who are involved in the first case on the list. The judge will then hear from both sides before making a decision.
If you would like to discuss your family law matter, complete the form below and we will get in touch with you.