Position Statement: Family Court Guide to What Judges Need

Part of: Your First Family Court Hearing

A position statement is a short written document (in children cases, no more than three pages unless the court allows more) that tells the family court judge what you are asking for at a particular hearing and why. If a court order has just told you to file one, nobody expects your whole story. The court wants clarity. What you ask for, and how you put it, can shape the hearing before anyone speaks. Our family court hearing specialists assist and advise at each stage. This page covers the law of England and Wales.

What is a position statement in family court?

In children cases, the court’s rules define a position statement as any written submission that sets out a party’s position on the issues to be decided at a particular hearing. Put simply, it answers three questions for the judge: what do you want the court to do today, what do you want at the end of the case, and why is that right for your child?

People often confuse it with a witness statement. They do different jobs, and mixing them up is one of the most common reasons a position statement fails to help.

If the court has asked for your evidence, our guide to witness statements in family court explains that document. A position statement should point to evidence, not repeat it.

When the court asks for a position statement

Usually, your court order tells you. A typical direction asks each parent to file and serve a position statement by a set date and time before the next hearing. File means send it to the court. Serve means send it to the other parties. The date in your order is the one that counts.

The court may ask for one before several kinds of hearing:

• The first hearing. In child arrangements cases this is the FHDRA, where the judge identifies the issues and looks at whether the parents can agree any of them (Practice Direction 12B). The Cafcass (in Wales, Cafcass Cymru) safeguarding letter usually arrives shortly before it. In Pathfinder court areas the process is different, with a Child Impact Report instead.
• Directions hearings. These set the timetable and decide what reports and evidence the court needs. Our guide to the directions hearing explains what the judge decides there.
• The dispute resolution appointment. This often follows a Cafcass section 7 report, and your response to its recommendations sits at the heart of your position.
• The final hearing. Here a position statement sits alongside the evidence already filed.

If you are running your case yourself, the same rules apply to you. Our guide for a litigant in person covers bundles and the wider paperwork.

What a family court judge looks for in a position statement

A judge may have several cases in a list and limited time to read before each one. A position statement earns its place when it makes the judge’s job easier. In practice, that means six things.

1. The orders you want, stated plainly. What you are asking for at this hearing, and what you are asking for at the final hearing. A judge should not have to search for it.
2. The real issues, narrowed. What you both accept, and what is still in dispute. Agreement on some points is a strength, not a concession.
3. Your reply to the professionals. Where there is a Cafcass letter or report, whether you accept its recommendations and, if not, why, in a sentence or two.
4. A focus on the child. Each request tied to your child’s needs, not to what is fair between the adults.
5. Proposals that could work. Practical arrangements the court can picture working, including what should happen until the next hearing.
6. Your view on out-of-court options. Where it applies, the court also wants your views on mediation or other non-court dispute resolution (PD27A, para 7.18(j)). Any Form FM5 already filed goes before the judge too (para 7.10).

The legal test behind every request

The court decides by asking what is best for your child. The court must treat your child’s welfare as paramount (s.1(1)). Next, it presumes that involving each parent furthers the child’s welfare, unless the evidence shows otherwise (s.1(2A)). The government has announced plans to remove this presumption. Until Parliament changes the law and the change comes into force, courts still apply it. The judge also weighs a welfare checklist that includes your child’s wishes and feelings, their needs and the likely effect of any change (s.1(3)). And it will not make an order unless doing so is better for the child than making none (s.1(5)).

Knowing the test is the easy part. Deciding which orders to ask for, and which to leave for the final hearing, is where much of a case is shaped on paper. Asking for too little, or too much, can weaken how the rest of it reads. That judgement turns on your facts, and it is the right moment for a free initial consultation.

Why a borrowed position statement example rarely fits

It is natural to look for a position statement template for the family court, or an example someone else used. We have not included a filled-in one, because the headings are the easy part. In children cases, a family court position statement usually works through the same few headings:

• The orders you want at this hearing, and at the final hearing (PD27A, paras 7.10 and 7.18).
• The issues that are agreed, and those still in dispute.
• Your response to any Cafcass letter or report.
• What should happen until the next hearing.
• Where it applies, your views on mediation or other non-court dispute resolution.

A template cannot tell you what to put under each heading, and that is the part the judge actually reads.

Every hearing asks a different question. At a first hearing the judge is looking at safeguarding and whether the parents can agree anything. By a later hearing, the judge is weighing a report and deciding what happens next. Your position statement has to answer the question in front of that judge, in light of what the other parent has already said. A borrowed example answers someone else’s question.

Where family court position statements go wrong

Most problems with a family court position statement come from the same few habits. Each one is understandable, and each one makes the judge’s job harder.

• Telling the whole history. A long narrative buries the request. Background belongs in brief, and evidence belongs elsewhere.
• Attacking the other parent. Criticism that does not link to your child’s welfare tends to count against the person making it.
• Not saying what you want. A statement that describes the problem but never names the order leaves the judge guessing.
• Answering every point. Replying line by line to the other side’s statement looks defensive and uses up your three pages.
• Raising serious allegations in passing. Allegations of harm may need their own route, such as a fact-finding hearing. A line dropped into a position statement rarely achieves anything.
• Missing the deadline or the format. Put the date you prepared it and the date of the hearing at the top of the first page (PD27A, para 7.13). Use numbered paragraphs, refer to documents by their page in the bundle, and attach no exhibits. Make it stand on its own rather than referring back to an earlier position statement (para 7.18). Then get it in on time. If a party ignores the practice direction, the court can take the case out of the list or make a costs order (PD27A, para 3.1).

Is your position statement ready for court? A two-question check

Choose the hearing you are preparing for, then tick what is already true. Anything you cannot tick yet is worth sorting out before your deadline.

A specialist’s view of your position statement before court

You do not have to send it off and hope. Our specialists can review your position statement before it goes to the family court and the other parent. They will tell you what is working, what is missing, and whether you are asking for the right orders. This is separate from the free initial consultation, and we will explain how it works when you call.

Some parents want more support than that. Our specialists can also help you prepare for the hearing itself, work out what you might agree beforehand, and plan how to respond to the other parent’s position.

A free initial consultation is a conversation with a specialist, who gives you initial advice tailored to your circumstances. It does not include drafting or reviewing documents. Before the call, have your latest court order, the date of your hearing, and any Cafcass letter or report to hand.

Expert Tip

Write the orders you are asking for before you write anything else, and keep them to what the court can decide at this hearing. Then test every sentence against one question: does this help the judge decide what is best for my child? History, grievances and replies to each point the other parent made usually fail that test. Judges tend to read a short, specific and calm position statement far more closely than one that argues everything.

Hannah Overton, Complex Children Specialist & Client Support

Position statement: family court questions answered

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