Court bundles have always been essential in family proceedings. Get them wrong, and you risk delays, wasted costs, and an undesirable outcome, all because the judge cannot find the documents they need. The court has had specific rules regarding the format and content of bundles for a very long time, and on 2 March 2026, Practice Direction 27A came into force, introducing updated rules that all parties in the family court must follow. There were no transitional provisions, so the new rules applied immediately to all proceedings. We want to help you understand what has changed, what it means for your case, and what happens if the rules are not followed.
What Is Practice Direction 27A?
Practice Direction 27A is the formal court rule that governs how documents must be prepared, organised, and filed for hearings in family proceedings in England and Wales. It sets out exactly what a bundle should contain, how it should be structured, and who is responsible for putting it together.
The direction applies to almost all hearings in the family court and the Family Division of the High Court. It covers everything from short directions appointments to full final hearings. The aim is to ensure judges can read the right documents quickly, without having to sift through hundreds of pages of irrelevant material.
Preparing the bundle correctly is not optional. It is a court requirement, and the updated rules from March 2026 make the expectations clearer and stricter than before.
Key Court Bundle Changes Explained
The updated Practice Direction 27A brought several important changes. Here is what we think matters most.
Contents of the bundle are now more tightly defined. The rules set out a clear list of what must go in, and just as importantly, what must be left out. Judges do not want to read everything. They want to read the right things.
The list of essential reading is now a required part of every bundle. This tells the judge which documents they must read before the hearing begins. It should be short and focused. If it runs to dozens of pages, it has missed the point.
Skeleton arguments and position statements must be included where required by the type of hearing. These documents set out each party’s case in summary form. They help the judge understand the issues before anyone speaks. Position statements are particularly common in children’s proceedings, and the new rules confirm when they are required and how they should be formatted.
The rules also address working day deadlines more precisely. Bundles must generally be filed no later than two working days before the hearing, though some hearings require earlier filing. Missing that deadline can have real consequences.
How Does It Affect Your Family Court Case?
The effect depends on the nature of your proceedings. In financial remedy cases, you will need to think carefully about which statements and other financial documents to include. This covers payslips, bank and credit card statements, pension documents, and property valuations. The bundle should contain only what is relevant and proportionate. Packing it with every document you have ever received is not compliance. It is clutter.
In children’s cases, the bundle may include social services files, notes of contact visits, and foster carer logs where these are relevant to the issues before the court. These documents can be sensitive and sometimes extensive. The rules require you to be selective. Include what the court needs to decide the issues. Leave out what it does not.
Where expert evidence is involved, the bundle must include any expert’s report and may include assessments being relied upon by a party; again, providing these are relevant. If you are relying on a psychological assessment, a medical report, or a social work assessment, the court needs to see the full picture of how that evidence came about but in order to include that evidence in the bundle certain steps must be taken first.
Medical records should not be included unless directly relevant to the issues in the case. Including full GP records when only one entry is relevant wastes everyone’s time and adds unnecessary bulk to the bundle.
What Happens If You Don’t Comply With Practice Direction 27A?
Non-compliance is taken seriously. Judges have the power to adjourn hearings where the bundle is not ready, not filed on time, or does not meet the required standard. Adjournments cost money and cause delay. In some cases, the party responsible for the failure may be ordered to pay the other side’s wasted costs.
A poorly prepared bundle can also affect how your case is perceived. A judge who cannot find a key document quickly, or who has to read through irrelevant material to understand the issues, is not in the best position to hear your case fairly. That is not a risk worth taking.
How to Present Evidence in Family Court Under the New Rules
Good evidence presentation under Practice Direction 27A starts with planning. Before you file anything, ask yourself what the judge needs to read to decide this hearing. Not the whole case. Just this hearing.
Organise documents in a logical order, typically following the index structure set out in the direction. Number every page. Make sure the index matches what is actually in the bundle. These are basics, but they are also the most common sources of error.
Where financial records are included, present them clearly. If you are including bank and credit card statements, highlight or tab the relevant entries rather than filing months of transactions and expecting the judge to find what matters.
Practice Direction 27A and Litigants in Person
Litigants in person face particular challenges with court bundle rules. The requirements are technical, and the consequences of getting it wrong are real. The judiciary publishes a guide specifically for litigants in person on preparing court bundles, which is worth reading alongside the direction itself.
We work with many clients who are managing their own proceedings or who want to understand what their solicitor is doing and why. Knowing the rules helps you ask the right questions and ensure your case is presented as well as possible.
The honest caveat here is that even experienced practitioners can find bundle preparation time-consuming and complex. If you are unfamiliar with court procedure, the risk of error is higher. Getting help early is almost always more cost-effective than fixing problems after a hearing has been adjourned.
What We Do to Help
Preparing a compliant bundle takes time and legal knowledge. We make sure that every bundle we prepare meets the requirements of Practice Direction 27A, includes the right documents, and provides the judge with what they need to hear the case properly.
If you are facing a family court hearing and you are not sure whether your bundle is right, or if you are dealing with a case where the other side has filed a non-compliant bundle, we can help. Early advice is almost always better than waiting until a problem becomes urgent.
Holland Family Law works with clients across England and Wales on all aspects of family proceedings, from initial advice through to final hearing. Speak with us before your next court date to ensure your case is in the best possible shape.
To get in touch directly, call 0116 4362170 or contact us via our website form, and we will be happy to talk through your situation.
