How to Prepare A Bundle For Court
(With Front Cover & Index Templates)

WHAT IS A BUNDLE?

A court bundle is a file full of all the paperwork including, statements, evidence, court forms and applications, and court orders involved in your court case. A bundle can be a PDF version (electronic) to send via e-mail and/or an A4 hardcopy in an A4 ring binder or both. A bundle is used during the hearing by the judge/magistrate and both parties. Bundles allow all parties to access and view the same paperwork at the same time.

WHO NORMALLY PREPARES THE BUNDLES FOR A HEARING?

The applicant – the person who filed the initial application to start court proceedings – is responsible for preparing and distributing the court bundles. If the applicant is a litigant in person, then the party who is represented by a solicitor and barrister must prepare the bundles. If both parties are litigants in person, then neither side is expected to provide a bundle unless the court directs one of the parties to do so.

DO BUNDLES HAVE TO BE AGREED BY BOTH PARTIES?

The index/contents list of all bundles need to be agreed by both parties. Where there is a disagreement about adding or removing paperwork, the aggrieved party will have to ask the court’s permission at the beginning of the court hearing to include or remove this paperwork. The judge/magistrate will decide whether the paperwork is relevant and should be included. Alternatively you can produce your own mini bundle with all the documents that you feel the other party have missed out in the main bundle. You will need to send a copy of this mini bundle to the court and to the other party.

WHAT ARE THE STEPS IN PREPARING ONE?

• Buy 4 A4 ring binders. One bundle for you, one for the other party, one for the judge, and one spare. Try and get a A4 file with a clear plastic sleeve on the front of the file. You can then insert an A4 paper giving your case details. 
• Print out every piece of paperwork, statements, and evidence for both sides and place them in different sections. Some sections could be –
  • • SECTION A – Preliminary/Pre-court paperwork.
    • SECTION B – All court applications.
    • SECTION C – All court orders.
    • SECTION D – Statements and arguments from all parties (Cafcass, Social workers, both parties, barristers, solicitors)
    • SECTION E – Care plans.
    • SECTION F – Expert Evidence.
    • SECTION G – Medical evidence.
    • SECTION H – Police records.
    • SECTION I – Child contact notes.
• Label every page (both sides) with the section letter and then the page number in that section. Page 1 in section A, for example, will be labelled A1 and the reverse side will be labelled A2. The next page is section A will be labelled A3 and its reverse side will be labelled A4, and so on. These page letters and numbers must be written on the top right hand side of every page. Sometimes the page letters and numbers are written on the bottom right hand side of the page.
• Now make an index/contents page and write the list of sections and pages. Place the contents/index page at the beginning of the bundle. An example is SECTION A – PRECOURT PAPERWORK Pages A1 – A60.
• Buy a set of A4 dividers for each bundle and place the dividers between each section. Label the dividers if you can so the judge can easily find a section.
• Label the front of the A4 file. The details you should include are  –
  • • The name of the court where the hearing is to be heard.
    • Your case number.
    • The date and time of the hearing.
    • The applicant’s and respondent’s names.
    • The name of the judge/magistrate.
• If there is more than one bundle – each bundle must be labelled A and B and so on.

WHEN DO YOU SEND IT TO THE COURT AND OTHERS?

You will need to send the bundle to the court by post or courier to arrive 2 working days before the court hearing or by the date and time set by the judge/magistrate.

You will need to send the bundle to your ex-partner/their solicitor or barrister 4 working days before the court hearing or by the date and time set by the judge/magistrate.

SHOULD YOU PREPARE A BUNDLE FOR EVERY HEARING YOU ATTEND AND WHAT IS A SUPPLEMENTARY BUNDLE?

You do not need to prepare a fresh bundle for each successive hearing. However, you should prepare a supplementary bundle each time containing up to date paperwork which was not included in the previous bundle.

UNDER WHICH GUIDLINES ARE COURT BUNDLES PREPARED?

The guidelines governing family court bundles is Practice Direction 27A of the Family Procedure Rules.

LINK TO PRACTISE DIRECTION 27A OF THE FAMILY PROCEDURE RULES FOR FAMILY COURT BUNDLES 

YOU CAN USE OUR I AM LIP TEMPLATES

You will need to produce your own bundle. 

The team here at I AM L.I.P have produced a bundle front cover and index templates for you to download and fill in. Once you have filled them in you can then print a hard copy. 

The front cover template is to insert in the clear plastic sleeve on the front cover of your A4 file. 

The index template is for the inside of your A4 file. 

Click on the upper right corner of the document below to access it. Once accessed, we recommend you click the ‘Open Original’ button on the upper right corner to download the document on Microsoft Word, or you can download the document on other applications such as Google Docs. The BLACK writing is part of the template document and should not be altered. The RED writing is where you should edit the template document as it is there to guide you on what to include.

PLEASE NOTE – Our team at I AM L.I.P have produced these templates with the focus being to cater to every type of user regardless of their skill set, technical capabilities, literacy comprehension and level of neurodiversity. We understand that when most people are completing these templates, they can be under immense emotional distress due to the difficult process of divorce. Therefore, these templates are here to make the process easier.