What happens if I cannot attend a Court hearing?

If you cannot attend a family law court hearing, the Court could make orders in your absence. You may also have it pay the other parties wasted legal costs for the ineffective hearing. 

This could be avoided by an application to adjourn the hearing being made in advance, ideally with the consent or agreement of the other party. There may be a good reason why you cannot attend the hearing or circumstances which make it impractical for the hearing to be effective, however you would be well advised to communicate this far in advance and seek the other party’s agreement. 

An order can then be filed to Court asking the court to list the matter for a new date, however there will typically be a Court fee to pay. 

Please note that if your matter is listed for a ‘paper hearing’ this means there is no need for any parties' attendance and the Court will make a decision after reading the documentation. Therefore if you are not available on the date of a paper hearing this is usually not an issue as you do not need to attend Court. 

George Green LLP have a specialised team of expert family lawyers. If you have a family law enquiry you can contact astokes@georgegreen.co.uk or call on 01902 328 355. Our family law solicitors are based in Wolverhampton and Cradley Heath and serve clients across the West Midlands and beyond.