Stafford Combined Court: What to Expect at a Family Hearing

Part of: Family Court Guides: Find Your Court Before the Hearing

Stafford Combined Court is the court building at Victoria Square, Stafford ST16 2QQ, where family hearings sit under the same roof as the Crown Court and the County Court. GOV.UK Find a Court lists it for child arrangements, divorce, domestic abuse and adoption cases, as well as crime, housing and money claims (Find a Court: Stafford Combined Court Centre).

The Crown Court side deals with criminal cases and runs separately. This guide is only about family hearings. It explains where to go, what to bring, who you will meet and how to ask for help to feel safe. There is one family court for England and Wales, sitting in buildings like this one (Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, s.31A).

Where is Stafford Combined Court, and when is it open?

You will find it at Victoria Square, Stafford ST16 2QQ. The building is open Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 6pm. The public counter only sees people who have booked an appointment beforehand. These details come from the court’s Find a Court entry. Check it again the week before your hearing in case anything has changed.

Crown Court or family court: which one are you going to?

Staff based in Stoke-on-Trent may manage your family case even when your hearing takes place in Stafford. The family email for both buildings is the same Stoke mailbox, and Find a Court notes that it accepts C100 applications (Find a Court: Stoke-on-Trent Combined Court). Always check which building your notice of hearing names, because that is where you need to be on the day.

Which family cases does Stafford Combined Court hear?

Find a Court lists four kinds of family work for this building: arrangements for children when parents separate, divorce hearings, domestic abuse cases and adoption. Financial remedy is not on the list. If your case is about money after a divorce, your notice will tell you which court is dealing with it. Our guide to your first family court hearing explains the standard route, but children cases here now run differently, as the next section explains.

How do children cases start at Stafford Combined Court now?

Since 11 November 2025, children applications started at Stafford have followed a pilot process instead of the standard route. Practice Direction 36Z lists Stafford, along with Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire, as pilot locations. It covers applications for child arrangements orders and other section 8 orders, and enforcement applications, filed up to 31 March 2027 (PD36Z, paras 1.3 and 1.4E).

Under the pilot, a case does not open with a first hearing dispute resolution appointment. Instead it begins with an information gathering and assessment stage, and the court decides who will prepare a Child Impact Report. For a child who lives in England, that is usually Cafcass (PD12B (Pilot), annexed to PD36Z, para 13.2A). The aim is to gather information early rather than across a series of hearings, and to hear the child’s voice more clearly (PD36Z para 2.1). The officer who writes the report should not attend any hearing unless the court directs it (PD12B (Pilot) para 23.3). Our guide to how Pathfinder courts work takes you through each stage.

What happens on the day at Stafford Combined Court?

The day has a fairly fixed shape. Knowing it in advance means fewer surprises when you are already nervous.

1. Arrive 30 minutes before your listed time, and no earlier. HMCTS warns that staff may turn away people who arrive too early at busy times.
2. Go through security. Security staff search bags and pockets, and they may ask you to remove your coat, belt or shoes or to step through an archway detector.
3. Find your hearing room. The case number on your hearing letter tells staff which list you are on. Ask a member of staff if you are unsure.
4. Wait for your case. The time on your letter is when the day’s cases start, and yours may not be first. Bring something to eat, because refreshments here come from vending machines only.
5. The hearing. A member of staff calls you in and shows you where to sit. Silence your phone. You may take notes, but never photos or recordings.
6. Before you leave. Make sure you know what the judge decided and what happens next, including any dates and anything the judge asked you to do. Ask how and when you will receive the written order.

What should you bring, and who can come with you?

Who will be in the hearing room?

Family hearings take place in private, which means the general public have no right to be there (Family Procedure Rules 2010, r.27.10). Rule 27.11 lists who may attend. They include the parties and their lawyers, the Cafcass officer, witnesses, court staff and accredited journalists. Anyone else needs the court’s permission.

A judge, or a panel of magistrates advised by a legal adviser, hears your case. You speak to the judge, not to the other parent.

Can you feel safe at Stafford Combined Court?

Yes, but you need to ask for the arrangements before the day. Contact the court on the details in your hearing letter and ask to wait in a different part of the building from the other party, or for a screen in the hearing room so they cannot see you. Find a Court lists four interview rooms on the ground floor, which gives you somewhere private to talk before you go in.

If you say you are, or are at risk of being, a victim of domestic abuse by another party, their relative or a witness, the court must start from the assumption that abuse diminishes the quality of your evidence and your participation. It must then consider whether to make participation directions (FPR r.3A.2A). An Independent Domestic Violence Adviser can come to the hearing with you without a court order. Our guide to help for vulnerable parties and witnesses explains what the court can put in place.

Access, facilities and getting there

The Find a Court entry for the building lists these facilities:

• A ramp to the entrance, a lift between the ground and first floors, and level access into the courtrooms and hearing rooms.
• Hearing enhancement equipment, by prior arrangement with the court office.
• Assistance dogs welcome, and Hidden Disabilities Sunflower lanyards on request.
• Video conferencing in the courtrooms, by prior arrangement.
• GovWifi in the building.

Find a Court gives no parking information for Stafford Combined Court, so plan your journey before the day and allow time for security. If you need an interpreter, arrange it through the court before the hearing. If you cannot attend on the date given, tell the court straight away in writing, with your case number, rather than simply not turning up.

Have you planned your hearing day? Check in three questions

Stafford Combined Court: frequently asked questions

General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.