My FDR has Magistrate instead of Judge...Why?

Just checked with my court & my upcoming fdr next week has a Magistrate & legal advisor instead of a Judge. there are no children in this case, it is simply a financial settlement.....
Has anyone ever known of this before?.....seems very strange to me.

Since 2014 there has been no distinction between the Magistrates Court and the County Court - there is only a Unified Family Court.

This means that the magistrates have the same powers as a Judge.

Charles

Thanks for your reply Charles,
so this is totally normal practise is it? why is the legal advisor there?

Well, that's a different question...

It was always intended that the two courts would become one but in reality there are still different levels of complexity which demands different levels of expertise.

A magistrate who receives no wage compared to a judge who is often a specialist in their field will approach a case in a different way. That's not to say the outcome will be any different in the same way that any given case can have a different outcome with different judges.

There isn't anything you can do about the allocation of judiciary so you will have to bear it I'm afraid..

Charles

Thanks Charles, I have spoken with my solicitor & barrister, they both say, it is unheard of for a Magistrate to preside over an FDR, they do not have the jurisdiction to hear it....so we'll see.