Form A: Notice of an application for a financial order

To apply for financial orders, you must fill in a notice of application in a standard court form called “Form A”.
Form A is a form of application to the Court for the Court to reach a decision about what financial order is to be made.
The first stage is that the court will make an initial appointment with a judge, this is known as the “First Appointment”.

First Appointment

The court will tell you when and where this appointment will take place., e.g., Weston-super-Mare or Bristol Family Court.
The First Appointment must allow you and the other party enough time to serve copies of a financial statement known as “Form E”, on each other together with copies of the documents referred to in the Form E.
In most cases the court can use the First Appointment as a Financial Dispute Resolution hearing. If not, the court will make directions and will list the case for a Financial Dispute Resolution hearing.

Financial Dispute Resolution hearing

Whether at the First Appointment or a subsequent date, this has to be attended by you and your spouse.
The purpose of the Financial Dispute Resolution hearing is to see if it is possible to reach an agreement or achieve financial settlement. In more cases than not, this objective is achieved, and the Judge can make a financial consent order, so that your case is concluded. 
Only if the Financial Dispute Resolution hearing is unsuccessful will the Judge give further directions and will fix a date for a final hearing, probably months ahead.