No Bypassing Of Financial Dispute Resolution Procedures

The High Court heard an appeal against interim orders, one of which dispense with Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR) and proceed straight to a final hearing.

Background:

Various interim orders have been made in the course of financial remedy proceedings between a Wife and Husband. One of those orders was to dispense with a Financial Dispute Resolution ("FDR") and proceed straight to a final hearing, which has not yet taken place. The judge seemed to have taken the view that the FDR should have been dispensed with for two reasons: there had been an ongoing factual dispute about the wife's earning capacity; and the wife's position had not crystallised so as to enable the FDR process to be successful. One party appealed the decision.