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YOUR DAY IN COURT - URGENT (OR INTERIM) HEARING DATES

If we have filed on your behalf an Application in Court seeking urgent (or interim) Orders relating to property, maintenance or your children, then the Court will allocate a hearing date usually within four (4) to six (6) weeks (sometimes earlier depending upon the number of cases listed in Court at any given time).

"What are urgent (or interim) Orders?"

These are short term Orders made by the Court, usually until further Orders are made.
They are not final Orders and do not dispose of your matter.
The Orders are designed to provide a short-term resolution of the dispute until a final Trial can take place.
"What happens in Court on the hearing date?"

It will be necessary for you to attend Court on the hearing date and we will usually travel with you to Court or meet you at Court, or at the Barrister's offices.
If your dispute concerns children then it will most likely be necessary for you to attend counselling at the Family Court on the morning of your Court date (if you have not already attended this beforehand).
Usually, a Registrar or a Federal Magistrate will be specifically allocated to hear all urgent Applications before the Court on that particular day.
There will be a number of urgent matters besides yours in Court on the hearing date.
The Court will firstly hold a "callover" at which we will attend.
The Registrar or Federal Magistrate will enquire briefly as to what each urgent matter is about and then will decide in what order the matters will be heard. Usually the shorter and more urgent matters are heard first and the longer less urgent matters are heard last.
We do not know how many other urgent matters will be before Court on your hearing date until we arrive at Court (sometimes this is as few as five (5) to six (6), but other times it can be as many as ten (10) to fifteen (15)).
The Registrar or Federal Magistrate will therefore have only a limited amount of time (usually One (1) to two (2) hours at the most and sometimes less) to determine your matter.
Because we may have to wait at Court for your matter to be heard there will usually be an opportunity at Court to discuss and negotiate further with your ex-partner and his/her legal advisors.
If your matter is not resolved in Court then eventually your matter will be called in before the Registrar or Federal Magistrate for determination.
Ourselves and usually your Barrister also, will present your case to the Court. This will involve:

Asking the Registrar or Federal Magistrate to read Affidavit material prepared on your behalf;
Our Barrister making some brief oral submissions as to why the orders sought by you should be granted.
The Registrar or Federal Magistrate will then usually make a decision immediately on your matter.
In most cases you will not have to say anything or give any evidence in Court during the hearing of your urgent Application.
It is possible that your matter may not even be determined on the hearing date by the Registrar or Federal Magistrate due to the fact that there might have been too many matters before the Court on that particular day for your matter to be heard. In this situation, the Court will usually adjourn your matter to another date and the same procedures as above will apply to the hearing of your matter on the next date.

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