Posted by Kay Bowring on 5th February 2025
Family law can often feel like a maze of jargon, with acronyms and technical terms that aren’t always easy to understand. To help make things clearer, our trainee solicitor Kay Bowring has put together this helpful jargon buster.
At The Family Law Company, we’re committed to being transparent and approachable, ensuring you feel informed and supported throughout your journey. This guide is designed to break down the language of family law into simple, straightforward explanations.
Family Law Terms and Meanings
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Actuary | A pension specialist who will advise on a fair division of pension assets within a matter. (see also PODE, below) |
| Adjourn | A hearing can be ‘adjourned’ or ‘paused’ to continue at a later date, for example an FDA (see below) may be adjourned if documents have not been provided but need to be obtained before the hearing can continue. |
| ADR | Alternative Dispute Resolution – this is a collective term that refers to alternatives to court such as mediation, arbitration, early neutral evaluation and collaborative law. |
| Budget | Also known as a ‘Schedule of [Annual/Monthly] Expenditure’ which sets out an individual (and also their children’s) income needs by separating out their day-to-day expenditure into separate categories. This is completed as part of the financial disclosure process (see ‘Form E’ below). |
| Clean Break | The clause in an Order which severs the finances between parties to protect against future financial claims being made. |
| Consent Order | When both parties have reached an agreement without attending a Final Hearing (see below), this Order captures their agreement for a Judge to seal (see below). |
| CM / CMS | Child Maintenance / The Child Maintenance Service. |
| D11 | A form made to make an application to the Court. This could be to eg vacate (see below) a hearing or to make an application for MPS (see below). |
| D81 | Form D81, Statement of Information – this is the form that both parties are required to complete when filing an agreed consent order with the court. The form requires each party to set out their current asset and income position and what this will look like following the approval of the agreed order. |
| Directions | A statement from the Court within an Order which ‘directs’ the parties to do, or to not do, a certain task or action, such as obtain an Actuary report. |
| ES1 | A document summarising the headline aspects of a case. This form is completed by the parties and filed with the court ahead of each hearing. |
| ES2 | An asset schedule spreadsheet that is required to be completed and filed with the court along with the ES1 in advance of each hearing. It provides a snapshot to the Judge of the assets and disputes within the matter. The ES2 is a specific template which shows each party’s position on the value of every asset, entitlement and liability, as well as their incomes. |
| FAS | Family Advocacy Scheme. Specific terms included within an Order for a party in receipt of Legal Aid funding. |
| FDA | First Directions Appointment – also known as a ‘First Appointment’. This is usually the first hearing in a financial remedies application. Often used to obtain directions to seek specific reports, documents and deadlines. If the parties are able to agree directions, this hearing can be vacated (see definition below). If the case is ready to proceed to meaningful negotiations, the parties can apply to convert the hearing into an FDR (see definition below). |
| FDR | Financial Dispute Resolution hearing. This is usually the second hearing in a financial remedies application. It is a without prejudice hearing (see ‘WP’ below) that involves each party setting out their position to a Judge who gives an indication as to how they would decide the case if they were sitting as a Judge at a Final Hearing. After receiving the indication, the parties are given time to negotiate outside of the Court room in the hope of achieving a settlement the same day. Most cases do not progress past this point. |
| First Appointment documentation | A collective term for the following documents that are required to be prepared in advance of a First Appointment hearing:
|
| Final Hearing / FH | This is the last hearing in financial remedy proceedings. It is usually held over 1 or 2 whole days and parties are usually represented by barristers. Once all evidence and submissions are heard by the Judge, they will make a decision as to the division of assets. The Judge’s decision is final and an Order is made. |
| FFH / FMH | Former Family Home or Former Matrimonial/Marital Home – the home the parties lived in together during their marriage. |
| Form A | A standard form a party completes when they wish to commence financial remedy proceedings. This form can be completed online via the MyHMCTS portal (see definition below) by a solicitor acting for their client. |
| Form C | The form also entitled ‘Notice of First Appointment’ which notifies the parties of the date, time and place of their hearing listing, and the deadlines for filing their Form E and First Appointment documents. |
| Form E | A form also known as the ‘Financial Statement’. This can be completed on a voluntary (outside of Court) basis but is also required to be completed in advance of the first appointment hearing (or FDA). This is a detailed form that requires the parties to set out their personal details and all their assets, entitlements, income and liabilities with supporting documentation. |
| Form E1 | The Form E1 is a financial statement that parties to a Schedule 1 application should complete. It is similar to a Form E but is in a slightly more truncated form and requires less supporting documentation. |
| Form E2 | The Form E2 is a financial statement that parties to a variation application (where one seeks to vary a final order) should complete. |
| Form H | The form also known as an ‘Estimate of Costs’ that each party is required to complete and file with the court to set out their incurred and estimated legal fees in advance of each hearing, save for a final hearing (when a longer form is required – see ‘Form H1’ below). The fees are divided into costs incurred by previous solicitors, current solicitors, barristers (counsel) and any other disbursements (such as the cost of an expert or court fee). They are further divided into Public Funding (Legal Aid) and private costs (paid by the client to the law firm direct). |
| Form H1 | The form also known as a ‘Statement of Costs’ that each party is required to complete and file with the court in advance of a final hearing to set out the legal fees they have incurred at each stage of the proceedings and any anticipated costs of implementing any final order. It is a much more detailed version of the Form H. |
| FPR | Family Procedure Rules – the rules governing the way family practitioners should conduct cases. |
| HMCTS | His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service |
| LAA | The Legal Aid Agency |
| LA/LH | Legal Aid / Legal Help funding |
| LOI | Letter of instruction – usually to an expert or SJE (see definition below) setting out what that expert is required to do when preparing their report. |
| LSPO | Legal Services Payment Order – an order that requires one party to make a payment or series of payments to the other party’s solicitors so that the receiving party can afford legal representation. This order is usually only made if the receiving party has proven they are unable to secure litigation or Legal Aid funding. |
| MCA | The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 – the key legislation for financial remedy cases and is currently being reviewed by the Law Commission in respect of potential reform. (See also S25/Section 25 below). |
| MIAM | Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting – a meeting with a mediator that a party must attend in advance of filing their Form A (see definition above) unless an exemption applies. |
| MPS | Maintenance Pending Suit – an order for one party to make regular payments to another party to meet their income needs on an interim basis during proceedings before the Final Order of Divorce is obtained. |
| Form G | The form also known as a ‘Notice of Response to First Appointment’ which essentially responds to the Form C (see definition above) and is completed by each party in advance of the first appointment hearing to confirm to the court whether that party believes the case is ready for an FDR (see above, also). |
| MyHMCTS | MyHMCTS is the court’s online portal where applications, orders and documents relating to a case should be filed when being lodged with the court. This has replaced the previous method of filing documents with the court via email and has been mandatory since 31 January 2023. |
| Note/PS/Position Statement | Counsel’s Note, also known as a Position Statement, prepared for a party to the proceedings in advance of a hearing, which usually must be filed with the court by 11am the day before the hearing, subject to the listing of the latter. |
| N260 | A form a party should complete if they are seeking a summary assessment of costs so a costs order can be made. This is a much more detailed form than the Form H which divides the legal fees incurred into different categories and tasks. |
| O/S | The Other Side, usually those who represent the other party in a matter. |
| PAG | The Pensions Advisory Group who prepared the PAG report (see definition below). |
| PAG report (also: PAG2) | A Guide to the Treatment of Pensions on Divorce published in July 2019. An essential tool for practitioners when considering this particularly tricky area of the law which includes a helpful steer on many topics. A long-awaited sequel, ‘PAG 2’, was published in late December 2023 with important updates for all practitioners. |
| Part 25 application | An application made under Part 25 of the Family Procedure Rules (FPR) to seek an order for an expert’s involvement in a case (such as a property valuation or a pension report). |
| PD | Abbreviation for ‘Practice Direction’ which accompanies the FPR (see definition above). Practice Directions provide guidance to family practitioners as to how the rules should be applied. |
| PODE | Pension on Divorce Expert – an expert who can be instructed to report on pension sharing. (See also, Actuary above). |
| PP (‘PP’s) | Periodical payments, also known as ‘maintenance’ – regular payments that one party can be ordered to make to another party following the proceedings after the Final Order of Divorce has been obtained. |
| PSO | Pension sharing order – an order for a pension to be shared with the other party. |
| PSA | Pension sharing annex – the form that accompanies an order that contains a PSO (see definition above), that sets out the details of the pension to be shared including the percentage of the pension to be split. |
| RCJ | The Royal Courts of Justice in London, also known as the High Court. |
| Schedule 1 | This is shorthand for Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 and refers to the statutory regime that unmarried parents can apply to the court under to seek financial provision for their children. |
| S25/Section 25 factors | Section 25 of the MCA (see above) sets out the considerations the court will have when considering a fair outcome in the division of financial assets and entitlements. |
| SJE | Single Joint Expert – an expert that is instructed jointly by both parties with the aim of resolving a disputed point (e.g. the value of an asset) for the purpose of the proceedings. |
| Sols | Solicitors |
| SPP / SM | Spousal periodical payments or spousal maintenance – regular payments that one party can be ordered to make to their spouse following the proceedings. |
| Undertaking | A solemn promise to the Court to do, or not to do, a certain task or action. Not complying with an undertaking can lead to the person being held in contempt of Court. |
| Vacate | Cancel a hearing and remove it from the Court listing. |
| WP | Without Prejudice – privileged communications that represent a genuine attempt to settle a matter. This could be a letter labelled ‘WP’ or ‘without prejudice’ or an entire hearing, such as the FDR (see definition above). |
| WPSATC | Without Prejudice Save As To Costs – privileged communications that represent a genuine attempt to settle a matter but can be viewed by a judge when they come to determine the discrete issue of whether a costs order should be made. Such communications are only permitted in financial remedy applications when dealing with interim applications, not the substantive dispute itself. |
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