PART 16: APPEALS

146. Appeals under Part 19 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024

147. Request for further arguments before Judge

148. Use of presentation slides for all proceedings before the Family Division of the High Court

146. Appeals under Part 19 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024

(1) The appeals counter of the Registry is located in the Family Registry of the Family Justice Courts Building.

Formatting requirements and page limits for appeals under Part 19 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024

(2) The formatting requirements for written submissions, appellant’s Case and respondent’s Case filed under Part 19 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024 are as follows:

(a) the minimum font size to be used is Times New Roman 12 or its equivalent;

(b) the print of every page must be double-spaced; and

(c) every page must have a margin on all 4 sides, each of at least 35 mm in width.

(3) The following page limits apply to appeals under Part 19 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024:

Type of appeal	Rule	Appeal document	Prescribed page limits
Division 2 — Appeals from Registrar to District Judge in proceedings in Family Court and to Judge in proceedings in Family Division	Part 19, Rule 18(6)	Written submissions	35 pages
Division 3 — Appeal from judge of Family Court to Family Division	Part 19, Rule 23(6)	Written submissions	35 pages
Division 4 — Appeals from judgments and orders made after hearing on merits	Part 19, Rule 32(1)	Appellant’s Case	35 pages
		Appellant’s core bundle of documents (excluding the written judgment or grounds of decision of the lower Court and the extracted order of the lower Court)	55 pages
		Respondent’s Case	35 pages
		Respondent’s core bundle of documents	35 pages

(4) The prescribed page limits set out in the table at sub-paragraph (3) include the cover page and table of contents.

(5) Where the Court allows the prescribed page limits to be exceeded, fees are payable under the Third Schedule to the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024.

Guidelines for preparation of appeal documents

Written submissions

(6) All written submissions must include a cover page and a table of contents.

Bundle of authorities

(7) The party must, in lieu of the bundle of authorities, file a list of authorities (that corresponds to the table of contents of the hard copy of the bundle of authorities) into the case file using the Electronic Filing Service within the timelines prescribed in Part 19, Rule 18(5), 23(5) or 30 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024.

(8) The bundle of authorities (whether in hard copy or soft copy) must comply with the requirements under paragraphs 124(5) to (11) of these Practice Directions. In particular, where the bundle of authorities consists of more than 1 volume:

(a) the table of contents of all volumes of the bundle of authorities must be placed at the beginning of Volume A; and

(b) each volume must have a table of contents indicating the authorities that are contained in that volume.

Appellant’s Case, respondent’s Case and core bundle of documents required under Part 19, Division 4 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024

(9) The appellant’s Case and the respondent’s Case must each include a cover page and a table of contents.

(10) The contents of the appellant’s core bundle of documents must be arranged in the following separate volumes:

(a) Volume A – A table of contents listing the documents included in Volumes A and B, the certified copy of the written judgment or grounds of decision of the lower Court, and the extracted order of the lower Court.

(b) Volume B – All other documents referred to in Part 19, Rule 25 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024 and a table of contents listing the documents included therein.

(11) Each volume of the appellant’s and respondent’s core bundles of documents and subsequent bundles (if any) must begin at page 1. Every page must be numbered and the page number of the appellant’s and respondent’s core bundles of documents and any subsequent bundles must correspond to the page number of the Portable Document Format (PDF) version.

Submission of hard copies of appeal documents

(12) All appeal documents as required in Part 19 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024 must be tendered to the Despatch Office at Level 1, Supreme Court Building not less than 5 working days before the hearing of the appeal. For clarity, the appeal documents are as follows:

Type of appeal	Rule	Appeal document	Which party is to submit
Division 2 — Appeals from Registrar to District Judge in proceedings in Family Court and to Judge in proceedings in Family Division	Part 19, Rule 18(5)	Written submissions Bundle of authorities	Each party is to submit 1 hard copy each of his or her respective documents.
Division 3 — Appeal from judge of Family Court to Family Division	Part 19, Rule 23(5)	Written submissions Bundle of authorities	Each party is to submit 1 hard copy each of his or her respective documents.
Division 4 — Appeals from judgments and orders made after hearing on merits	Part 19, Rule 30(4)	Record of appeal Appellant’s Case Appellant’s core bundle of documents Appellant’s bundle of authorities	The appellant is to submit 1 hard copy each of his or her respective documents.
	Part 19, Rule 30(8)	Respondent’s case Respondent’s core bundle of documents Respondent’s bundle of authorities	The respondent is to submit 1 hard copy each of his or her respective documents.

147. Request for further arguments before Judge

(1) All requests for further arguments pursuant to Part 19, Rule 20 or Part 19, Rule 34 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024 must be made by way of request filed through the Electronic Filing Service and should, either in the request electronic form or a document attached to the request:

(a) state the party making the request;

(b) identify the Judge who heard the matter in question;

(c) specify when the order concerned was made (if the request is made after the Judge has given his or her decision);

(d) state the provision of law under which the request is made;

(e) set out the proposed further arguments briefly, together with any authorities; and

(f) include a copy of each of the authorities cited.

(2) A copy of the request must be furnished to all parties concerned.

(3) All requests should be addressed to the Registrar.

148. Use of presentation slides for all proceedings before the Family Division of the High Court

Subject to approval by the Court, parties may utilise presentation slides to assist in oral submissions before the Court. Presentation slides may be projected in the courtroom or hearing chambers when oral submissions are made. Presentation slides must comply with the following standards:

Typeface

(a) A clear typeface such as Arial or Times New Roman must be used; care should be taken to ensure that the font used is of at least a size equivalent to Arial font size 32. Bold and italicised fonts should be used sparingly.

Colours

(b) There must be sufficient contrast between the slide background and text: it is preferable to use black or dark fonts with a light background. The colours used in slide backgrounds should be muted and preferably monochromatic.

Animation and sounds

(c) Animation of slides or elements within a slide should be avoided; similarly, sounds should not be incorporated in the presentation slides unless they are necessary.

Corporate logos

(d) Corporate logos of the law practice may be displayed on the presentation slides. Care should be taken to ensure that the size and location of corporate logos do not distract from the substance of the presentation slides.