The Family Proceedings Rules 1991

Mode and place of trial

2.32—(1) Unless otherwise directed and subject to rule 2.36 every cause and any issue arising therein shall be tried by a judge without a jury.

(2) Any cause begun by petition (except one entered in the special procedure list) which is pending in a divorce county court may be tried at any court of trial.

(3) Any cause begun by petition which is pending in the High Court may be tried at the Royal Courts of Justice or at any divorce town.

(4) A judge or the district judge of the registry for the divorce town at which any cause has been set down for trial may, where it appears to him that the cause cannot conveniently be tried at that town, order that it be tried at some other divorce town; and rule 10. 10(4) and (5) shall apply to such an order as it applies to an order under paragraph (1) of that rule.

(5) As soon as practicable after a cause pending in a divorce county court has been set down for trial, the proper officer of the court of trial shall fix the date, place and, as nearly as may be, the time of the trial and give notice thereof to every party to the cause.

(6) In these rules any reference to the registry for the divorce town at which a cause is to be tried shall, in relation to a divorce town in which there is no district registry, be construed as a reference to such district registry as the Lord Chancellor may designate for the purpose or, if the divorce town is not situated within the district of any district registry, as a reference to the principal registry.