Better Support for Litigants in Person
Help your clients navigate the Family Court system with confidence. Access form guidance, procedural tools, and hearing preparation resources for McKenzie Friends supporting unrepresented litigants across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Challenges for McKenzie Friends
Supporting litigants in person effectively within appropriate boundaries
Form Completion Complexity
Family court forms — Form E, C100, D8, Form A — are complex and technical. Errors or omissions lead to applications being returned by the court, causing delays and frustration for litigants you are supporting.
Procedural Knowledge Gap
Without formal legal training, keeping up with Family Procedure Rules changes, Practice Directions, and court procedural requirements is challenging — particularly across financial remedy, children proceedings, and injunction applications.
Legal Research Access
Accessing clear, reliable information about family law principles, relevant case law, and procedural guidance to support unrepresented litigants requires navigating complex legal databases without professional training or subscriptions.
Supporting Anxious Litigants
Litigants in person are often overwhelmed by the court process. Helping them understand what to expect, how to prepare, and what to say in court requires tools that translate complex procedure into clear, manageable steps.
Why McKenzie Friends Use Splitifi
Court Form Templates
Access all key UK family court forms — Form E, C100, D8, Form A, D11 — with guided completion assistance, annotations explaining each section, and common error warnings before submission.
Legal Research Support
Access plain-language family law resources, procedural guides, and court rule summaries covering financial remedy, children proceedings, and domestic abuse protective orders.
Hearing Preparation
Prepare litigants for hearings with timeline tools, document checklists, and guidance on what to expect at each hearing type — FDA, FDR, final hearing, and children case management.
Compliance Guidance
Clear guidance on disclosure obligations, court orders, procedural requirements, and what happens if parties do not comply — helping litigants understand their responsibilities and rights.
Complete McKenzie Friend Toolkit
Support Within the Rules
The McKenzie Friend Role
Splitifi provides resources and templates to help you support litigants in person effectively while staying within the recognised boundaries of McKenzie Friend practice. You can provide moral support, take notes, organise documents, and quietly suggest questions — but not conduct litigation or exercise rights of audience without court permission.
Always remind clients that McKenzie Friends are not qualified lawyers and cannot provide legal advice.
The right to a McKenzie Friend is well-established in English law following McKenzie v McKenzie [1971]. Courts have discretion to exclude McKenzie Friends in limited circumstances, but refusal is uncommon.
What McKenzie Friends Say
"The court form guidance has been invaluable. Form E is particularly complex and the section-by-section annotation helps me support my client through it without stepping into advice they need a solicitor for. Documents arrive at court much better prepared."
— McKenzie Friend
Family Court, London
"The hearing preparation tools are excellent. Going through what will happen at each stage with my client — what the judge will ask, what documents they need — has reduced their anxiety enormously and made hearings much more productive."
— McKenzie Friend (Retired Solicitor)
South East England
Frequently Asked Questions
Empower Your Clients in Court
Join McKenzie Friends across England and Wales using Splitifi to provide better support to litigants in person navigating the Family Court system.