Help Needed - First Appointment / Consent order

Hi everyone, Just looking for some help/advice

Background Information
Myself and ex are both self litigant.

I applied for the financial order, did all the paperwork, turned up to court for first appointment on 19th August.

He did not do paperwork or attend.

Judge adjourned, will write to him with new dates for paperwork and first appointment date and attach a penal notice for contempt of court if he does not comply this time. I was obviously very upset as it meant further delays and no progress had been made.

Since the first appointment, discussions have been had and to my surprise ultimately an agreement found to all matters financial and using an online service we are having the agreement fast tracked and drawn up by the 11th September, which hopefully if he sticks to his word we will both sign and then send off to court.

Questions

Now in post today we have both received court letters. Stating his paperwork must be submitted and exchanged by 12th Sep and new court date is 17th October and if he doesn't he can be held in contempt of court.

Im looking for advice on what to do

1 -do I just email or ring the court to inform them of development and request that the appointment be delayed (incase he flakes out of the agreement and I ultimately need to continue the court process)

2 - Since I have done all the paperwork and I am the applicant should I just wait the next week and see if he signs Consent Order first next Wednesday before doing anything else. (the only problem is see with this is he will miss his court deadlines the next day)


Lastly assuming he does sign the consent order and I don't need to go down the court system anymore is there a form I need to send to the court to have the financial order dismissed or do I write/call the court to explain what's going on.

If there is agreement there is nothing to stop you both signing a draft order and sending it to the court with a (again joint) letter saying you've managed to sort things and that you'd like the hearing vacated and the draft order sealed.

All going well the court will be happy to do this - it'll save them time and you've come to an agreement by consent.

You'll need to make sure that the draft order is unambiguous and consistent with the Matrimonial Causes Act - if it isn't the court may acknowledge your letter but say the hearing needs to go ahead to clarify anything that doesn't make sense.

Hello Steven, thank you for your reply I will definitely do that