Court bundle preparation (FCFCOA)
The FCFCOA court book is the spine of any hearing. This checklist walks through the standard preparation steps.
This is a 12-step checklist for preparing a FCFCOA court bundle. It covers index, tabs, pagination and upload to the Commonwealth Courts Portal.
The checklist
Check the Central Practice Direction
Comply with the most recent Central Practice Direction — Family Law Case Management.
Identify the hearing type
First return, interim, final hearing or appeal. Bundle requirements differ.
Compile pleadings
Application, response, reply and any amendments. Chronological order.
Compile financial statements
Current financial statements for all parties.
Compile affidavit evidence
All affidavits relied on at the hearing, with exhibits cross-referenced.
Compile family reports
Family reports, Child Impact Reports and single expert reports.
Compile orders
Existing interim orders, consent orders and any draft orders proposed today.
Prepare a chronology
A short chronology for the bench, cross-referenced to the bundle.
Paginate the bundle
Continuous pagination through all tabs.
Create a hyperlinked index
Electronic index with hyperlinks to each document, as required by the Portal.
Upload to the Commonwealth Courts Portal
Upload by the deadline set in the Central Practice Direction.
Provide a copy to counsel
Provide a clean copy to counsel the night before the hearing.
When this checklist applies
Use this checklist for every FCFCOA hearing that requires a court book. Interim bundles are smaller but follow the same logic.
Common pitfalls
- Non-continuous pagination
- Broken hyperlinks in the electronic index
- Missing exhibits to affidavits
- Late upload to the Portal
- Counsel briefed without a clean bundle
Run this checklist on a real matter
Quillio generates FCFCOA-compliant bundle indexes and hyperlinked court books. See /practice-areas/family-lawyers.
This checklist is a general guide. Always follow the current Central Practice Direction.
Use this checklist on your matter.
Quillio can run this checklist on a specific NSW conveyancing matter — confirm each item, calculate adjustments, and generate the supporting documents. The free trial requires no credit card.
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