The dreaded court bundle!

So, I've been reading up on how to prepare the court bundle... Seems like a massive task!

I've read the practice directions;

www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rule...rections/pd_part_27a

And now have confused myself to no end!

Please can anyone answer the following questions;
(I appologise, some of these questions may seem rather daft)

Format:
1. Should documents which I have not produced eg. Evidence such as emails or reports, have to be re-typed to font size 12 point and with line spacing of 1.5?

Contents:
2. Do I need to get permission from the court to include any medical reports in the bundle if I wish to rely on them?

3. Do I only include the form E and not all of the bank statements and additional documents that go with it? If so, do I need the court's permission to include specific bank statements which I want to refer to in the hearing?

Requirements:
4. The practice Directions suggest that a bundle is required for all hearings. Does this mean I should produce one for the First Appointment? The Form C does not direct me to do so.

Any guidance would be appreciated...
B

I was the respondent so thankfully didn't have that task, but I can answer based on what my ex's solicitor did.

1 - no, reports and other documents are put in as they are. The font and line spacing only apply to documents you write - i.e. position statements, chronology, statement of issues etc.

2 - yes you normally need permission and especially so for the later hearings. As you are coming up to your first appointment you can ask the judge at the hearing. I would make sure that you mention the medical issues in your position statement. Does the other side have copies yet?

3 - the full form E with all attachments are included in the bundle. I think the reference to permission is for other statements not in the form E.

4 - the practice direction I think refers to hearings of 1 hour or more requiring a bundle. My first appointment was scheduled for 20 minutes (though actually took 45). A bundle was produced anyway, and I think it is probably a good idea. The bundles for the later hearings build upon the first bundle so it is not a case of having to do it all again.

Bubblegum you are a LiP not a legal professional so mistakes will be expected so please do not worry about it.

I agree with Luna apart from 3. in later hearings only the form E and relevant attachments are required as a lot of the bank statements etc. become redundant once the questionnaires have been fully answered.

The bundle is supposed to be agreed so try and give the other side an opportunity for their input

If you can index the bundle from the start as Luna says it is built upon as the hearings progress so you can add and remove documents as the become relevant/ redundant. In the index you simply put "removed as per practice direction" if the other side objects they can tell you when you discuss bundle contents.

Thank you both so much...you have been very helpful!

I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed, but you have helped my get some perspective on this now.

As I mentioned, I was going by the bundle my ex's solicitors had provided.

I think the problem with taking out evidence documents from the form E from later hearings is that you would then need to agree with the other party which documents to leave out.

Ex's solicitor did the minimum work possible however so perhaps he was just saving time.

I suppose it would make sense to remove things like irrelevant statements that are not going to be referred to in future hearings in order to meet the 350 page per folder limit and for ease of reference. All agreed with the other side of course.

Is the bundle only paginated for the FH and did you do this by hand?

Bundle was paginated for all hearings, but as the page numbers are for each section, they remain the same for each hearing, with additional documents following on from the previous ones in each section.

E.g. for first hearing you might have

A 1-10
B 1-20
C 0
D 1-8
E 1-100

and then for next hearing you add documents so

A 1-12
B 1-25
C 1-20
D 1-20
E 1-100

Exception is section A which is repaginated as the statement of issues and position statements are re-written for each hearing. You may also have a case summary for the later hearings.

I did it by hand - if you are making copies for the other side then you may want to paginate before photocopying/scanning so it doesn't have to be repeated.

I know it's mandatory to only copy the index to the other side, but I had huge difficulties because my ex's solicitor only provided the index but the pagination didn't make sense. For example I had provided them with a 6 page witness statement but there were only 4 pages given in the index. My form E was apparently 15 pages short. To ensure everyone is looking at the same document it would be good manners to provide the whole document.