First Hearing brought forward - can I change it back?

I had the forms from the stbex's application a month ago, which said the first hearing would be in Feb 2024. Today I received an email saying it has been brought forward to 20th September 2023.

This doesn't work for me. I intend to get an actuary report on his pension, and I have a two week holiday booked in between - giving me about a month to get all the forms done. Also I'm working full time in an office, while he works from home 100%. So I have less time to be able to give to the forms compared to him.

Can I respond to the email from the court saying I disagree with the date, and want to put it back until the original hearing date that I received?

You can try but if you are not actually on holiday when the hearing is due to take place your request is unlikely to succeed.

The real problem is that the length of time it takes the court to deal with and respond to your email may lead you to have to prepare for the hearing which means you will be ready for the earlier hearing in any event.

If you do write to the court don't say that you "disagree with the date" - you need to explain that the listing does not allow you to obtain the expert report* which will be crucial to the decision of the final hearing judge.

Charles

*assuming that you have leave from the court to obtain the actuarial report

The first hearing is administrative. It is where you get directions to ensure there is full disclosure ahead of FDR, usually the second hearing. One of these may be for an actuary's report.
It's better to get this ordered by the court.
You usually get about 3 -5 weeks to prepare form E which the courts would consider perfectly sufficient.
If you need help with the form, this site offers low cost support with the court process.

Hadenoughnow