Witness Statements

Witness statements are the most important statements you will write. They are the point in your case where you give the evidence you want the court to take into account. In many ways it’s the part that most of my clients say they are waiting for.

Warning: This will be a long one, so buckle up!

The ‘want’ to send evidence to court

Throughout proceedings and certainly at the very start of their case my clients want the court to immediately view and consider their evidence. They are often surprised and disappointed that it doesn’t work that way. Perhaps it would make for short and more efficient cases if that happened, however this isn’t the case currently.

If the court were sent all the evidence that the parties wanted, the volume would be completely unwieldy. Parties, without specific orders could submit hundreds of pages of persuasive statements, photos, screenshots, videos and so on.

Commonly, evidence that parties think is relevant may be deemed irrelevant by the court, and this is why cases require management from an early stage. Allowing unlimited evidence to be submitted would mean the case would heave under the weight and take months or years to wade through at the court’s current pace.

Examples of commonly submitted evidence that can be considered irrelevant unless directed by the court: -

Things that happened prior to previous proceedings (already considered by court)

Arguments between parents before the child was born

Social media posts made by the other parent

Character statements of any sort (talking about what sort of person the party is)

Details about the other party’s new partner

Anything about child maintenance or financials

Mentions of adultery or the other party’s relationship history

Important disclaimer – all the above MIGHT become relevant in your case, but these are typically not relevant and would need direction from the court before submitting.

What might the court do if I send the evidence in early?

It’s tempting to send your evidence immediately. My advice is not to do so.

At best: the court will ignore it.

At worst: The other party may attempt to have you sanctioned for not following specific court directions or practice directions

Additionally, the court may view early submission negatively, which could be detrimental to your case.

When will the court want to hear my evidence?

As above, the court does not usually want to see your evidence right away (unless it has asked for you to send it). Always follow your court directions as they are tailored specifically to your case. This blog serves as commentary on what would usually happen and can’t possibly cover every single possibility of course as each case is unique.

The court will normally order a witness statement which is when you will submit your evidence either at the first or second hearing. On cases that are being held under the pathfinder system (a trial of a different way of running children cases happening at some courts in some areas) it is possible that you may get asked to provide your witness statement even before the first hearing – to be considered at the first hearing.

Will the court look at my witness statement before the hearing?

Very unlikely. Don’t expect them to have read it until the day of the hearing, it just doesn’t work that way. On a recent post made on my Facebook group a member asked why there was a hearing being held without parties present – a gatekeeping hearing. When you’re under the pathfinder route then there are usually one or two gatekeeping hearings without parties present. I don’t intend to go into pathfinder too much because that’s not the focus of this blog post, but I raise this as an example of when statements can be considered. It’s time for the court to spend reading the statements and reports that have been sent to them so that they can make further directions for the future of the case. I mention the poster on my group because it was this scenario in their case – the court had set some time aside to consider the papers, and the poster was confused why they weren’t to be present. I don’t know if the poster had assumed that courts will spend time looking at their statements as soon as they arrive, and before they call parties in, but in my experience, this is almost unheard of.

At attended hearings (not Pathfinder), the court usually reads the statements just before calling in the parties. If your hearing is listed for 2 pm, you may not be called exactly at 2 pm; that is when the court will typically be reviewing statements.

Differentiation from position statements

What’s the difference between position statements and witness statements – can I send my evidence in with my position statement? The short answer is ‘no’. I won’t go into any detail in position statements here, because I’ve already written a blog post on the issue. In fact, it’s my most read blog post, currently at over 15,000 views as of December 2025.

A position statement simply gives the headlines to the court about what you’d like them to order for the next hearing, or any updates about how contact is going and proposals for contact. That sort of thing.

What should I say in my witness statement?

The most important rule here is you need to include everything that you want the court to consider when making a child arrangements order. However, if you have been excluded from giving evidence of a certain type (for example the court says they do not want to have any video evidence, or don’t want evidence that was taken already in prior proceedings) then you must not include it. The court’s directions to you specifically will always take precedence over the general rule.

Most of your evidence will be your written word. It’s a common misconception that evidence relates only to pictures, video, audio etc. That’s not the case. Your words – the words written in your statement – your account of what’s happened – that is evidence. Whether it’s writing about the history of the relationship (again check first section in this blog to check for relevance) or details of horrible violent acts, that’s all evidence.

To support your evidence, you can attach exhibits. These are what previously you might have considered as ‘evidence’, so photos, videos, screenshots etc.

Common topics to be discussed in a witness statement are listed below, but it really will depend heavily on the individual circumstances of your case. Always follow your order, and if you are in any doubt then check with your legal professional. As a side note if you wish to have professional, 1 to 1 support from my team or I with your statement, or indeed your case as a wider point, then please email info@firstfamilylaw.co.uk and you can find out more about what we can and can’t do to help you on this blog post.

Common topics

The contents of a section 7 report by CAFCASS / The local authority

The abuse suffered by either yourself or the child/ren

The relationship history (in the context of relevance to what the court wants to know)

How you yourself meet the child’s needs

History of who cared for the child up until now / who did what

The contact arrangements up until the point of contention

The child’s routine, as far as it is relevant

A full set of contact proposals you’d ask the court to make as a final order, and why

Any case specific issues such as problems with handovers

How you would wish to communicate with the other parent e.g. a parenting app

Why your proposals are consistent with the child welfare checklist

This is not an exhaustive list, and as mentioned previously the content of your witness statement will largely depend on the factors present in your specific case.

How to reference exhibits

Each exhibit should be on its own page, with all the correct titles / headings at the start. I have included a template to go with this blog post so it might be worth you have a quick look at that at this stage, but I have included a picture below.

As you can see in the example, the top section is almost the same as the header for the witness statement. However, do note the exhibit here is called AB1. Yours won’t be called this. You take your initials and then number your evidence. As my name is Neil Andrews then my exhibits would be NA1, NA2, NA3, and so on. If your name was Joe Bloggs then your exhibits would be JB1, JB2, JB2 etc.

When writing your evidence then you refer to your exhibits by name. So, you might include the like ‘please see exhibit NA1’. The court will then flip to the back of your statement (because exhibits go at the back) at that point to go and look at the exhibit.

How should I attach different types of evidence?

This is a commonly asked question and so I will attempt to go through each of the types of evidence.

Screenshots and photos – these are easy to add given the format I have mentioned above. You will need to use MS Word (or similar) to place the image on to the document, but then that’s it. Here's the exhibit template featuring one of my favourite mugs for example.

Emails – you would need to screenshot the relevant email in the same way as a photo. Context is key here. You will need to provide enough context that it is clear what the email in question refers to (to avoid taking something out of context), but not too much context that you end up with pages and pages. If you’re not sure how much to include then by all means book in with me or the team at info@firstfamilylaw.co.uk

Audio and video recording – things get a little murkier here because if someone was recorded in private, without their knowledge then the person wishing to rely on them can be heavily criticised and even find that they are seen as manipulative or emotionally harmful on the person who was unaware. In the case of recording children in this way then it is seen as even more harmful behaviour still.

You cannot simply submit an audio or video file. As we have seen in the paragraphs above, a witness statement is a ‘paper document’, even if submitted electronically. Therefore, an audio or video file won’t be able to be attached. The courts would also not thank you for submitting anything like this via email.

The correct way to submit such evidence is to provide a transcript of what is said. Now, I know what you’re thinking – that will cost me an arm and a leg. Not so. You can do it yourself! So, your next question is – but won’t the court think I’m making it up, or won’t the other party claim that I am? Quite possibly – but here’s the thing – you wouldn’t – why would you? If you submit something based on untruths then you are in contempt of court, but not only that, if there is any doubt the court WILL ask to hear / view the recording and if it’s found that you fabricated any part of it then the court will take a very dim view of you and potentially view any other evidence you present as untrustworthy.

If after reviewing your transcript the court want to hear / see the video / audio, then they will let you know. You can also ask permission for it to be presented as part of your witness statement. The court will make directions for this and will often ask you to bring in a laptop / other device so that you yourself can play it.

Witness statements of other people – you will need permission for this. Whilst we are discussing witness statements in this blog post, it’s worth touching on the fact that most people, when they hear witness statement for the first time, assume we are talking about the evidence given by someone other than themselves. This is certainly true in criminal law cases and largely what we see on TV. But in this sense witness statements are YOUR testimony. However, if you do still want to include the witness statement of somebody else then you will need permission. It should not be a character witness / statement as mentioned near the start of this blog. Generally, the court is only interested in hearing from witnesses to a particular event that is disputed.

Evidence from the police – this will normally be dealt with separately via police disclosure. You would normally ask for this in court and a separate order is made to the police to provide the family court with evidence.

Evidence given by the child – It is strongly advised that you do not attempt to collate evidence given by the child in the form of recordings / audio / video. Say what you think their wishes are, but it will only usually be considered if the child has been spoken to independently and neutrally, by CAFCASS or Children’s Services. Any form of recording of the child as mentioned above will be heavily frowned upon due to the potential harm to the child, and the potential presence of coercive behaviour by the recording parent.

Exchange of statements, deadlines, what happens if not submitted / not on time?

It’s common for parties to be concerned about sending evidence to the other party ahead of receiving theirs in turn. After all, to do so would give them an advantage. Whilst this isn’t quite true as it’s not how the court works, it is still something of an issue as it can allow one statement to almost ‘reply’ to the other. Sometimes the court does intend this and make directions for it to be done in this way. However, by far the most common is for parties to submit their statements at the same time. They will give a date and time (usually 4pm) by which the parties must file (with the court) and serve (to the other party) their statement.

It is common for parties who are represented to arrange a mutual exchange of statements at a given time and day. It is less common if neither party is represented but still a good idea.

If the court gives a deadline and the other party does not follow it, then my advice is always to follow what the court says rather than withholding the statement because you’ve not received the other party’s. You must follow court directions rather than attempt to thwart the other party getting an advantage. You can address it in court or even email the court if you’ve not received the other party’s statement, but you really want, as I mention many times to my clients, to ‘keep your own side of the street clean’.

Yes, it is rare that the court will take action for non-compliance with a deadline, but they do ultimately have the final say and do have the power to refuse to allow evidence filed late to be considered and / or struck out from the case entirely.

Tone, language and length

On a slightly more practical note, now, the tone of the statement is important. It needs to be written respectfully and in awareness of who is reading it – i.e. the court. Ideally it would be written in professional style ‘office’ rather than emotive language. The court want to hear from you clearly and accurately. How to address your ex is a very frequently asked question. Simply by their first name is not particularly common. More common is using their title, e.g. Mr / Mrs / Ms [Surname]. Try and maintain consistency throughout the statement so that you use the same title each time and not alternate between Mr / Mrs / Ms [Surname] and then later their first name. Another common way of addressing the other side is as ‘The Mother’ or ‘The Father’. Solicitors often use this language.

The length that the court stipulates should never be exceeded. Do bear in mind that usually the page limit is for the statement itself and does not include the exhibits, though sometimes the court will instead give a page limit including exhibits or give a page limit for both the exhibits as well as the statement. Follow your order, and if you’re not sure please get in touch for guidance.

This should come as no real surprise but the use of swear words in your statement should be avoided absolutely, unless making a direct quote from a threat for example. I’ve never seen a direct quote that included swearing being seen as a problem as it’s important the court see what exactly it was the other person said to you.

Don’t rant! This is a big one. Don’t lose focus – keep your eye on the fact you’re writing a statement for a child arrangements order; it’s not a trial of the other person’s character.

 Channel your inner 'zen'!

Declaration of truth

As recently as this week I’ve seen statements using the incorrect statement of truth in witness statements. It is subtly but importantly different than the one used for position statements. The correct statement for child law witness statements is: -

“I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.”

A wet ink signature is not required, and e-signing is generally permitted.

The legal effect of signing, whether wet ink or digital is that you are signing to say that this is your word to the court, and you have not made a lie, and that to do so could mean contempt of court proceedings are brought against you should you later be found out to lie.

How the statement can be used

The witness statement is also usually the starting point for any cross examination that may take place in your case. The statement won’t be read out (normally), and instead you will be asked to swear that your statement is truthful before the court, and then the other side can cross examine you on its contents. This is typically part of a final hearing. It is the job of the barrister for the other side (or themselves or any QLR) to try and undermine what you have said in your statement, and it is your job to try and undermine the other side’s statement.

I hope this helps with your witness statement preparation. As always, if you would like low-cost professional support in putting this together then please contact the team and I on info@firstfamilylaw.co.uk

To download the witness statement template click the link below:-

WS template.docx

Download DOCX • 206KB

Nothing in this blog post should be considered legal advice.

All views are my own.

www.firstfamilylaw.co.uk

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