Family Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2025: What They Could Mean for You

The Family Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2025 change the way some family court decisions can be appealed and strengthen how contact details are kept confidential in certain cases. These changes were made on 20 November 2025 and affect the Family Procedure Rules 2010.

Appeals: Getting Permission First

If you want to challenge a decision made by lay justices in the Family Court, you will now need permission to appeal before your appeal can go ahead. This permission must be sought from the appeal court, not from the lay justices or the original court that made the decision. This brings lay justices’ decisions into line with other types of decisions that already require permission under the Practice Direction on appeals. These appeal changes start on 2 March 2026.

In practical terms, this means you should expect an extra step at the start of an appeal against a lay justices’ decision. The appeal court will first decide whether there is a real prospect of success or another good reason to hear the appeal. This is designed to make the rules consistent, whichever level of judiciary made the original decision.

Privacy and Safety: Protecting Contact Details

The rules also improve how personal contact information is protected. A party can now ask the court to keep another party’s contact details confidential, not just their own. This is intended to help safeguard people’s personal information in cases involving several parties. These privacy changes start on 1 June 2026.

For you, this could be important if you are worried about another person in your case seeing your address, email, or phone number, or if there is a safety concern about a third party’s details being shared. The court can be asked to hold that information back from the other parties when appropriate.

Other Technical Change

A minor tidy‑up has been made about the appointment of a children’s guardian, removing a reference to an old rule that no longer applies. This does not change how most cases are run day to day.

How We Can Help

If you are considering an appeal, we can assess whether permission is likely to be given and prepare a focused application to the appeal court. If you have privacy or safety concerns about contact information in your case, we can apply to keep the necessary details confidential. We will guide you through the new steps and timelines and ensure that you are kept informed at each stage.

If you are looking for support with your family law matter, please get in contact today.