EX107 Form: How to Get a Court Transcript and Who Pays

Part of: Family Law Specialists

The EX107 form is how you order a court transcript: a typed record of what was said at a hearing, made from the court’s own recording. You send it to the court where the hearing took place and choose one of the approved transcription companies. That company then charges you by the length of the transcript, unless a judge orders the cost to come from public funds. In family cases the part you usually need is the judgment, because any appeal turns on the judge’s reasons. This guide explains how to get a court transcript in England and Wales: what to tick, what it costs and how long it takes. We also cover what to do when the transcript will not arrive before your appeal deadline.

Weighing an appeal while you wait for a transcript? You can book a free initial consultation for initial advice from one of our specialists before your deadline passes.

What is an EX107 form?

Form EX107 is the HM Courts and Tribunals Service form for ordering a transcript of court or tribunal proceedings. Each form covers one case, so you need a separate form for every case you want transcribed (HMCTS guidance).

You complete four parts. Part A asks about you and which transcription company you want. Next, Part B identifies the case, including any reporting restriction. In Part C you set out what you want transcribed and how fast. Finally, Part D is a declaration that you will pay. Court staff then fill in a fifth part, which records whether you have permission and whether the judge must approve the transcript first.

Wondering whether you could simply have recorded the hearing yourself? Our guide to recordings in family court answers that.

Who can make a request for a transcript?

Anyone can make a request for a transcript, but people outside the case need the court’s permission first. In the family court, a non-party must apply for permission on form C2, or form D11 in a divorce, and pay the court fee.

If you were a party, you can usually send the form straight in. For a private hearing, though, the HMCTS guidance advises checking with the court before you fill it in. Court staff also confirm on the form whether you have permission. The court can refuse part or all of a transcript, for example where details of the hearing are confidential. Our C2 application guide explains the permission form.

How to fill in the EX107 form, step by step

Fill in Parts A to D, and court staff complete Part E. The answers that change the price and the wait sit in Part C: what to transcribe (C3) and how fast (C5). The question numbers below match the current form.

1. Choose the transcription company (A10). Any of the five approved companies can produce a family transcript, and the table below compares their maximum prices.
2. Identify the case (Part B). Give the court, the case number, the judge’s name and the full case name. Then say whether there was a reporting restriction and whether the hearing was in private.
3. Pin down the hearing (C1). Give the date and the start and finish times. For a hearing over several days, give each date and, if you can, the times for each day.
4. Choose what to transcribe (C3). The family options include the whole hearing, the evidence, the judgment and the proceedings after judgment. For evidence, name the witness. For a judgment, say whether you need the main judgment or a ruling on a point such as costs.
5. Choose the speed and ask for a price (C5 and C6). Family transcripts come in two standard bands, within 48 hours or within 12 working days. You can also ask for an estimate before the company starts work.
6. Explain why you need it (C8 and C9). Tick the urgent box if it is urgent. If the transcript is for a later hearing with a fixed date, give that date.
7. Sign the declaration (Part D). Signing commits you to pay once the company produces the transcript, and it may ask for payment in advance.

Then email or post the finished form to the court or tribunal where the hearing took place. The court sends it on to your chosen company with the recording.

What does an EX107 transcript cost?

A family court transcript costs between £0.85 and £2.05 for every 72 words, depending on the company and how fast you need it. You pay the transcription company directly, unless the court has ordered the transcript at public expense. These are the most each approved company can charge for the two standard bands in civil and family cases (HMCTS price list).

So the length of the passage decides the bill. For example, a 5,000-word judgment is about 70 folios, a folio being 72 words. At these maximum rates that comes to roughly £60 to £108 on the 12-day band, or £101 to £144 within 48 hours. If the company delivers later than the band you chose, it adjusts the cost. A copy of a transcript that already exists costs far less, at each company’s copy rate.

If someone else orders the same transcript before it is finished, the form’s terms split the cost equally between you. Court fees are a separate matter, and our guide to the EX160 form covers help with those.

How long does a court transcript take?

Even on the 48-hour band, allow around three weeks, and longer for a judgment. Court staff have 2 working days to process your EX107, and the band only starts once the company has the recording.

Finding the audio and sending it to the company takes court staff on average 10 working days. A judgment then goes back to the judge for approval before release, and the band does not include that time either. Courts try to help with a genuinely urgent request, so tick the urgent box and say why.

Which transcript should your EX107 form ask for?

Usually the judgment, because it holds the judge’s reasons and an appeal turns on those. Ask for a witness’s evidence or the whole hearing only when what was said in evidence is itself the issue. Answer three questions to see the box to tick on each line of the form and what to send with it.

Do you need a transcript to appeal?

Usually yes, for the judgment. For an appeal heard in the family court, the bundle must include a transcript or note of the judgment, and where the court recorded the judgment, an approved transcript should go with your appellant’s notice (Practice Direction 30A, paras 5.9 and 5.23).

Transcripts of the evidence are different. You need them only when the evidence itself is relevant to the appeal, and generally not just to ask for permission to appeal (para 5.31). Ordering the whole hearing at the start can therefore add a large bill for little gain.

What if the transcript will not arrive in time?

File your appeal on time anyway. Unless the court sets a different period, the appellant’s notice is due within 21 days of the decision, or within 7 days for an interim care or supervision order or a case management decision (paras 5.35 and 5.36). If a document is not ready, list it, explain why, and give a reasonable estimate of when you will file it.

Where nobody officially recorded the judgment, a note of it can take its place, agreed between the advocates and sent to the judge for approval. If you had no lawyer at the hearing and there is no official recording, the other side’s advocate, if they had one, must give you their note of the judgment promptly and free of charge. Our guide to appealing a child arrangement order walks through the rest of the process.

Can you get a court transcript free? Form EX105

Sometimes. GOV.UK says you could get a free transcript of a civil or family hearing in special circumstances, for example when you need it urgently but cannot afford it, by sending form EX105 with your EX107.

The EX105 asks for your income, savings, outgoings and debts, with documents to prove them. It also asks for a copy of your appeal notice, and a judge decides whether to grant it. On an appeal, the court can certify one official transcript at public expense if you have no lawyer, or a lawyer is helping you pro bono, and the cost would be an excessive burden on your finances (PD30A, para 5.33).

For a transcript of the evidence or the proceedings at public expense, the court must also be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for appeal (para 5.34). Where you can, ask the judge who made the decision at the same time as you ask for permission to appeal.

EX107 form: frequently asked questions

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