Family Procedure Rules
Practice Direction 27A explained: the 2026 family court bundle rules
Practice Direction 27A tells every party in family proceedings in England and Wales how to build the court bundle: who prepares it, what goes in and in what order, how the pages are numbered, how long each document can be, and when it must be filed. The version in force came into effect on 2 March 2026 and replaced the previous direction in full. This page sets out the rules with their paragraph numbers, from the text on justice.gov.uk.
Last reviewed: 25 September 2026 by Stevie Hayes
Quick Answer
Practice Direction 27A (Family Proceedings: Court Bundles) governs court bundles in the Family Court and the Family Division of the High Court. In force from 2 March 2026, it requires the bundle to be filed 5 working days before the hearing with preliminary documents by 11am the working day before, caps e-bundles at 350 A4 pages and individual documents at set lengths, excludes correspondence, messages, recordings, bank statements and photographs unless the court directs otherwise, and prescribes Bates numbering by section for most family proceedings and Arabic numbering matching the PDF page numbering for financial remedy. BundleCreator is designed to help produce bundles that meet these format rules; the court decides whether any individual bundle is acceptable.
Practice Direction 27A in brief: In Brief
Practice Direction 27A is the Family Procedure Rules practice direction that sets the contents, format, page limits and filing timetable for every court bundle in the Family Court and the Family Division in England and Wales. The current version came into force on 2 March 2026.
- Applies to
- Every hearing in the Family Court and before Family Division judges, first and subsequent, except urgent applications where compliance is impossible (paras 2.1 to 2.4).
- Timetable
- Seek to agree contents 7 working days before; serve and file the bundle 5 working days before; preliminary documents by 11am the working day before (para 13.2).
- Size
- E-bundle of at most 350 A4 pages without the court's permission (para 11.2(b)); paper bundle of one binder, 175 sheets, 350 sides (para 12.1); at most 10 authorities (para 10.2).
- Numbering
- Financial remedy: Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3) through the bundle, with the preliminary documents numbered separately, matching the PDF page numbering (paras 6.2 and 6.5). Everything else: Bates numbering by lettered section, A1, A2, B1, B2 (para 7.2).
Official guidance: Practice Direction 27A, justice.gov.uk
What changed on 2 March 2026
The 2026 practice direction replaced the 2018 direction in full. Measured against the old text, these are the changes that alter what parties must do:
- The bundle is now served and filed 5 working days before the hearing, not 2, and the parties must first seek to agree its contents 7 working days before. Preliminary documents stay at 11am, now on the working day before (para 13.2).
- E-bundles are now the default (para 4.2), capped at 350 A4 pages (para 11.2(b)), and a paper bundle is 175 sheets printed on both sides rather than 350 single-sided sheets (paras 12.1 and 12.2(a)).
- Pagination now depends on the type of proceedings: Arabic numbers for financial remedy, Bates numbering by section for everything else (paras 6.2 and 7.2). The old direction used Arabic numbering throughout.
- In financial remedy cases the page numbers must match the PDF page numbering, and a fresh bundle is prepared for each hearing rather than the previous one re-lodged (paras 6.2(d), 6.10 and 11.2(c)).
- The excluded list in para 5.2 now also covers emails, texts, WhatsApp and social media messages, voice notes and recordings, and photographs. Relevant medical records and police disclosure are no longer excluded and have their own sections (para 7.3(f) and (g)).
- In financial remedy cases position statements now have tiered caps of 6, 8, 12 or 15 pages by hearing, and a skeleton argument counts as part of the position statement (paras 6.11 and 6.12(a)). Elsewhere the 3-page cap stays, but the court can now allow more in a complex case (para 7.18(a)).
- Where every party is unrepresented and none can prepare a bundle, the court can now direct HM Courts and Tribunals Service to prepare one (para 4.7).
- Pages of scanned typed text must be put through OCR (para 11.2(e)), documents should wherever possible be in Arial or Times New Roman (para 11.2(l)), and any party citing an authority must give each litigant in person a copy or link before the hearing (para 10.4).
Who prepares the bundle
The applicant prepares, files and serves the bundle, or where there are cross-applications, the party whose application came first (para 4.5). If the applicant is unrepresented and the respondent is legally represented, the respondent prepares it (para 4.6). Exceptionally, where every party is a litigant in person and the court is satisfied that none can prepare a bundle, the court may direct HM Courts and Tribunals Service to prepare one (para 4.7). Contents should be agreed between the parties wherever possible (para 4.9).
E-bundles are the default unless the court finds exceptional circumstances, or the person responsible cannot produce one, in which case they file a paper bundle (para 4.2). Even with an e-bundle, a paper copy must be provided where the court directs it, for the judge, a witness, or a litigant in person who cannot access the e-bundle, and, without a direction, where a witness may realistically give evidence in person (para 4.3), unless the court directs that a party's own equipment is used instead (para 4.4).
The filing timetable
All three deadlines are counted in working days before the hearing and are subject to case-specific directions (paras 13.1 and 13.2).
| When | What must happen |
|---|---|
| 7 working days before | The parties seek to agree the contents of the bundle. |
| 5 working days before | The bundle, excluding any preliminary documents not yet available, is served on the parties and filed with the court. |
| 11am, the working day before | Preliminary documents are served and filed. If a High Court judge has been identified, they are also emailed to the judge's clerk. |
Once filed, the bundle must not be amended before the hearing without the court's prior agreement, which may be given, for example, to correct an accepted error or to add a supplemental bundle (para 13.3). At the Royal Courts of Justice, a bundle delivered after 11am on the day before the hearing may be refused by the Clerk of the Rules and must then go to the clerk of the High Court judge hearing the case, or where the Clerk of the Rules directs (para 16.2). By 3pm the day before, counsel's clerk (or other advocate) for the applicant must email to find out whether the judge has the bundle and arrange prompt delivery if not (para 16.3).
What goes in, and in what order
Chapter 6 governs financial remedy proceedings and Chapter 7 everything else (para 2.6). Both start with preliminary documents and then run through the same broad sequence. In Chapter 7 proceedings the case summary, position statement and skeleton argument are each party's own documents, and the statement of issues, chronology, reading list and witness template are agreed (paras 7.5 and 7.8A). In financial remedy, each party files its own position statement and any Form FM5; the rest are filed by the person preparing the bundle (para 6.4).
| Financial remedy (Chapter 6) | All other proceedings (Chapter 7) |
|---|---|
| Preliminary documents: Form ES1, any Form FM5, the composite schedule of assets and income (Form ES2), an agreed chronology, each party's position statement, an agreed reading list and, for hearings of two hours or more, an agreed hearing template (paras 6.4 to 6.6). | Preliminary documents: each party's case summary and position statement (on the standard template in public law), an agreed statement of issues, any skeleton argument, any Form FM5, an agreed chronology where needed, an agreed reading list and, for an evidential, contested or final hearing, an agreed witness template (paras 7.6 and 7.10). |
| Applications and orders, sealed or stating that the court has approved them. | Applications and orders, sealed or stating that the court has approved them. |
| Statements, affidavits, Forms E and replies to questionnaires, dated on the front page, without exhibiting or duplicating the excluded classes in para 5.2 (para 6.3(c)). | Statements and affidavits, dated on the front page, without exhibiting or duplicating the excluded classes in para 5.2 (para 7.3(c)). |
| Experts' and other reports. | Care plans where applicable, then experts' and other reports including the children's guardian's. |
| Other relevant documents, divided into sections. | Relevant medical records, relevant police disclosure, the child's birth certificate or an equivalent document at a public law case management hearing, then other relevant documents in sections. |
What must stay out
The bundle contains only documents relevant to the hearing and necessary for the court to read or refer to. Unless the court directs otherwise, these classes are excluded (para 5.2):
- Correspondence, including letters of instruction to experts and correspondence between legal representatives
- Emails, texts, WhatsApp and social media messages
- Voice notes and recordings
- Bank and credit card statements and other financial records
- Contact visit notes and foster carer logs
- Social services files, other than assessments relied on
- Photographs
Para 5.2 still allows a specific document from one of these classes where the court needs to read it or it will actually be referred to at the hearing; otherwise ask the court for a direction. Do not attach them to a witness statement as exhibits: statements must not exhibit or duplicate these classes (paras 6.3(c) and 7.3(c)).
Page numbering: Bates or Arabic
The practice direction defines two systems (para 1.2). Arabic numbering is 1, 2, 3 onwards. Bates numbering denotes sections by letter, so the numbers restart in each section: A1, A2, A3, then B1, B2.
Financial remedy bundles use Arabic numbering through the bundle, with the preliminary documents numbered separately in their own Arabic sequence (paras 6.2 and 6.5); in an e-bundle the page numbers must match the PDF page numbering (paras 6.2(d) and 11.2(c)). All other family proceedings use Bates numbering, with the preliminary documents as Section A and the index left unpaginated (paras 7.2 and 7.12). Blank divider pages are numbered in both systems (paras 6.2(e) and 7.2(c)).
Bates numbering lets a Chapter 7 bundle grow between hearings without renumbering: new documents go to the end of the relevant section and the numbering continues within that section, while superseded summaries, chronologies and skeletons are removed (para 7.16). Financial remedy bundles are instead prepared afresh for each hearing (para 6.10).
Page limits
Unless the court specifically directs otherwise because it is necessary for a just hearing, each document is limited as follows (para 8.1), counted in sheets of A4 for a paper bundle:
| Document | Limit |
|---|---|
| Care plan | 10 pages |
| Case summary | 6 pages |
| Statement of issues | 2 pages |
| Chronology | 10 pages |
| List of essential reading | 1 page |
| Witness statement or affidavit | 25 pages, excluding exhibits |
| Expert's or other report | 40 pages, including an executive summary of at most 4 pages |
| Position statement, financial remedy | 6 pages at the first appointment or first hearing and 8 at other interim hearings, both including schedules; 12 at an FDR and 15 at a final hearing, both excluding agreed documents (para 6.12(a)) |
| Position statement, other proceedings | 3 pages, unless the court accepts the case is complex and directs otherwise (para 7.18(a)) |
On top of these sit the bundle-level caps: 350 A4 pages for an e-bundle (para 11.2(b)), one binder of 175 sheets and 350 sides for a paper bundle (para 12.1), and 10 authorities in the authorities bundle (para 10.2). Exceeding any of them needs a direction from the court.
E-bundle format
Every e-bundle must meet these requirements, subject to case-specific directions (para 11.2):
- A single PDF, with a separate PDF for authorities where needed
- Computer-generated page numbers, never handwritten, in the numbering system for the type of proceedings
- An index whose entries link to the documents, and bookmarks for every significant document and section giving a short description and the page number
- Searchable where possible; any page of typed text that was not created electronically must be put through optical character recognition
- Landscape pages shown as landscape, nothing upside down or sideways, and a default view of 100%
- Resolution of no more than 300 dpi, optimised for file size
- Arial or Times New Roman (the direction notes Arial is generally considered more accessible to neurodiverse readers), at least 12 point, with 1.5 or double line spacing and side margins
The filename must contain the hearing date, the case reference, a short version of the case name and an indication of the contents (para 14.2(a)). File through the HMCTS portal where it is available, otherwise by email, or by prior arrangement through the Document Upload Centre if the file is too large (paras 14.2(b) to (d)). Subject to any different direction, if a document must be added after filing, provide it separately and also provide a revised bundle, because the court may have marked the original (para 11.2(m)).
What happens if the bundle does not comply
Paragraph 3.1 lists the consequences: the case can be removed from the list or put further back in it, and the failure may also lead to an adverse costs order or a wasted costs order. A wasted costs order is made against a legal representative personally, not against the party (Senior Courts Act 1981, section 51(6)). Paper bundles must be collected immediately after the hearing or, if that is impracticable, within 5 working days, after which they are liable to be destroyed without further notice (para 17.1).
Litigants in person
The practice direction applies to unrepresented parties in full, but it shifts the preparation burden where it can: a represented respondent prepares the bundle for an unrepresented applicant (para 4.6), and where every party is a litigant in person and the court is satisfied that none can prepare a bundle, it can direct HMCTS to do so (para 4.7). The judiciary publishes a plain-English guide for litigants in person, referred to in para 1.1, which walks through the excluded document classes and the 5-working-day deadline.
How BundleCreator helps
BundleCreator is court bundle software designed to help solicitors, barristers and litigants in person meet the format requirements above. Its Sections numbering mode produces Bates numbering that restarts in each lettered section for all proceedings other than financial remedy; its Numeric mode produces Arabic numbering that matches the PDF page numbering for financial remedy, and financial remedy bundles default to it. Every export is a single PDF with an index and bookmarks for each section and document, and the family templates give you a lettered section structure to match to Chapter 6 or Chapter 7.
Whether a particular bundle complies with PD27A in a particular case remains the responsibility of the party who must prepare it, and the court decides whether it is acceptable. Use the PD27A checklist before filing.
Sources and further reading
- Practice Direction 27A, Family Proceedings: Court Bundles (justice.gov.uk, in force 2 March 2026, amended 24 March 2026)
- Preparing court bundles for family proceedings: guide for litigants in person (judiciary.uk)
- PD27A changes from March 2026: the new bundle rules
- PD27A pagination and indexing requirements
- How to create a court bundle designed to meet PD27A
- Family court bundle guide
- PD27A bundle checklist tool
- Family law bundles on BundleCreator
Page history: rewritten on 24 April 2026 against the in-force text after an earlier version cited paragraph numbers that do not exist in the 2026 direction, and rebuilt as this explainer on 25 September 2026. Nothing on this page is legal advice.