Practice Direction 27 of the Family Procedure Rules states that unless the court has directed otherwise, parties can submit a bundle of no more than 350 sides of text.
Sir James Munby, the president of the family division, in writing a recent judgment on a care proceedings matter, commented on the fact that this practice direction is often ignored and the legal profession must recognise that ‘enough is enough’.
Sir Munby said that he has taken practical steps to stop the direction being ignored and said ‘from now on, counter-staff at court offices will be instructed to refuse to accept witness bundles, unless a judge has specifically directed that they are to be lodged, and to require whoever is trying to lodge them to take them away.’ He also made reference to large bundles being the subject of financial penalties.
In the case Sir Munby was considering which involved children, the documents were 591 pages, and this included 131 pages of witness statements of the mother (which was considered excessive). The strict guidance he gave was that ‘proper compliance with PD27A and, in particular, strict adherence to the bundle page limit, is an essential tool in the struggle to control the costs of family litigation’.