Court portals, like iPhones, are continually being developed and tweaked. These are the updates. Strap in.
The case is not in the portal and I have a massive bundle to send to the court
Well, here is the thing. The maximum size of incoming emails that the court can accept it 35MB. I have been wanging on about increasing the size of the mailbox but computer says no. So there you have it.
What’s the work around? If your case is on the portal, you have no problem because there is no upload limit. The stakeholder group petitioned hard for that. (You are welcome.).
If you are not on the portal, the best option is to ask for a DUC (Document Upload Centre) link to upload your bundle. The downside is that a member of HMCTS staff has to see the email asking for the link, set up the link and send you the link. The upside is that there are no file size limits and you keep all your functionality. Some software will keep the functionality even when you split the bundle – but not all.
It’s not very satisfactory but to quote The Rolling Stones, you can’t always get what you want.
The citizen FR portal
This is in development. It is basically going to replace the bulk scan and upload via Harlow and allow litigants in person to upload their documents to the court file. However:
- The solicitor/barrister will not be able to see what is uploaded; only the judge can
- The litigant in person has to serve you with the documents
- There is a risk that the litigant in person uploads documents/screenshots etc that are not relevant and overloads the system.
I have been assured that the legal user portal and the citizen portal are on different platforms so no risk of ours falling over if the citizen side is bulked and also that certain types of file upload can be blocked – for example videos and voice recordings.
Problems with the pension annex not being stamped/dated
I have had a couple of people asking me about this. The answer, I am afraid, lies with the user in the chair not the system.
When you make your Form A application for an order by consent, you have a menu of orders to tick that you are applying for, whether in substance or for dismissal purposes. Let’s say you are a bit casual in ticking the boxes and tick only one, just to get the Form A issued. If you do not tick the box on the Form A application that you want a pension sharing order then the system will not be triggered to ask you to upload a pension sharing annex. Just uploading it with the draft order is not good enough and it will not be ‘seen’ by the system.
I was not aware that this was an issue, since I am a fully paid up member of the Pendant Society and tickety-tick all the boxes I need for making/dismissing an application. Gold star for me.
Upload errors
This is where you are trying to upload a bundle (usually) or another document and you are getting an error message that just tells you there is an error but you don’t know what it is. I am told that generally, these are issues with bundles and documents within the bundles that contact Java Script. These are likely to be documents that have been created with a dynamic case management system or web application, with functionality running in the background. These cannot be uploaded so you need to print your document to PDF to ‘flatten’ it and make it ‘uploadable’. The same applies for documents with an electronic signature in them.
Uploading documents correctly
It is really important that when you upload a document, you are uploading it to the right category – don’t just play roulette and pick anything- or it will not be sorted into the right place in the portal.
It is also important to understand that the functionality in the portal is triggered by certain actions. For example, if you want to make an application, you need to pick the category for making an application and not just upload your D11 as a case document because the system will not ‘see’ it in terms of something that needs looking at.
General applications and maintenance pending suit
It is important that you do not overwrite existing applications that you have made, whether the application has been dealt with or not. Let’s say you have made a Part 25 application. Then you are making an application to adjourn by consent with a draft order to be approved.
You will have lodge the first application and that will not have been dealt with – because you were expecting it to be dealt with at the First Appointment. So, when you come to lodge the second application, you simply pick ‘add new’ and you first application remains as it was and the second application is uploaded and on the court file too.
When you are making your Form A application and you want to apply for maintenance pending suit at the same time (i.e. before the Form A is actually issued), you upload your D11 application with the Form A and there is provision at the end of the Form A for this to be uploaded. The system will ‘see’ it and off you go.
What’s in a name?
Well, everything really because it allows for the documents to be filed in the right place in the portal. There is a naming convention document. I posted on my LinkedIn and it is here for you.
Oh and also, when you upload the document to the portal, please, please, please, (that last one is from HMCTS) do not also email the court with the documents. I know! Wild…… but there are some solicitors who are doing. Stop it.
Last note….
As the citizen portal for FR is developed, it is expected there will be amendments to the Form C – not least it being labelled on the face of it as a Form C. The amendments will be around the time line for litigants in person to file documents.
Also, there will be an amendment to allow for updating disclosure to be uploaded. Now, we do not upload updating disclosure. We exchange it and we integrate any changes into the ES2. However, for a litigant in person, our judges do think that having updating disclosure uploaded by them is needed and so this facility will be added to the portal. For solicitors, just because it is there, it does not mean that you have to use it or start uploading updating disclosure.