These are extraordinary and unprecedented times. These updated guidelines are in effect until further notice. Any changes to the court`s operations will be posted on the Judicial NI (judiciaryni.uk/) website. Any media representative (or other member of the public) wishing to attend a hearing remotely must provide an email address and telephone number in order to obtain an appropriate link for access. Please contact QBMastersListing@justice.gov.uk enter the date and time of the hearing in the subject line. A hearing before Bristol or Cardiff Administrative Court is a public hearing, unless otherwise stated. If a person or media representative wishes to attend a hearing remotely, they should contact the Cardiff Administrative Court office to cardiff@administrativecourtoffice.justice.gov.uk well in advance of the scheduled hearing. 6th Division Queen`s Bench (QBD). The judge will conduct an administrative review of the QBD. Representatives will be informed shortly of the deadline for submitting forms. Cases identified on April 27 will be postponed for four weeks.

Unrepresented or personal parties must complete LIPCI1 and submit it to the competent body. In this process, the judge reviews the information contained in the files and forms before determining any other course of action, which may be, for example, the issuance of directions, requests for further information, a list for the revision of the assigned examination date, an adjournment or a list for a future hearing. If a review hearing is required, it will be held remotely on the dates mentioned above. The representatives/parties to the proceedings will be informed of the date and details of the request for oral proceedings. If a later hearing date is required, it is expected that they too will generally be processed remotely, which will be slower than usual to accommodate the need to sequence and schedule this type of hearing. Initially, the focus will be on non-contentious issues where the issues have been circumscribed, where there are legal arguments and where limited oral evidence is required. GRANT OF SUCCESSION With respect to the granting of representation by the master of estates, the CRAA provides the following instructions: During the current public health emergency, and subject to periodic review by the Master of Probate, the Master of Estates and the administrative staff of the Estate Office accept requests for representation supported by statements of truthfulness and not by affidavits. if evidence could not be obtained by affidavit. Affidavits remain the most acceptable way to provide evidence, but the master acknowledges that in many cases this is impractical due to current government measures to enforce social distancing. Statements of truth simply begin with the following wording: “I/We Name and Address make the following statement.” This is followed by the content of the statement, which ends before signing with the following wording: “I/We believe that the facts stated in this testimony are true and understand that fraud proceedings may be initiated against me/us if I/We have been intentionally false or dishonest in making this statement.” For grant applications, the oaths commonly used by the executor/administrator are otherwise identical, with the exception of the opening and closing wording above. Declarations are simply signed. The signature does not need to be attested.

These instructions are initially valid until June 30, 2020, when they will be reviewed by the Master. For any application that is controversial, it is the responsibility of the master to ensure the quality of the evidence, and such contentious issues may simply need to be adjourned until affidavits are available. Practitioners should note that normal processing times do not apply due to reduced human resources. Applications take longer to process. Practitioners should draw the attention of the Registrar to the reasons for priority treatment. Requests deemed urgent will continue to be forwarded to the master to determine if they should be given priority. ALL OTHER ISSUES In general, all other court operations will follow the general approach of reviewing cases and determining next steps step by step, and further advice will be given. For example, there are plans to transfer non-contentious work to specific remote hearings, such as undefended divorces (both in the County Court and in the High Court). In the meantime, the current arrangements for urgent and agreed matters will continue. Representatives must complete the appropriate form and submit it to the registry of the competent court when requesting a hearing, providing as much detail as possible and attaching the relevant documents. Otherwise, the usual position remains that all other matters are adjourned by a judge without a hearing, unless they fall into the above, urgent or agreed upon categories.

If a matter is to be adjourned, the date of adjournment must be fixed. The time limit is generally four weeks, unless special circumstances require a different time limit. Representatives shall not address judicial bodies or members of the judiciary unless it is an urgent or agreed matter or has been specifically requested to do so in the context of a non-urgent matter.