# County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981, Rule 8: The hearing

Extent: N.I.

(1) On the hearing of the petition, any person upon whom notice is required to be served under rule 6 may attend and be heard on the question whether a parental order should be made.
(2) Any member or employee of a party which is an organisation or authority may address the court if he is duly authorised in that behalf.
(3) The court shall not make a parental order except after the personal attendance before it of the petitioners.
(4) If there are special circumstances which, having regard to the report of the guardian ad litem, appear to the court to make the attendance of any other person necessary or desirable, the court may direct that that person shall attend.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1981/225/part/50A/rule/8 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-rules-northern-ireland-1981/part-50A/rule-8
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.