# The Family Proceedings Rules (Northern Ireland) 1996, Rule 3.44: Parties to proceedings for a forced marriage protection order

Extent: N.I.

(1) In proceedings under the Act of 2007, a person may file in the Office of Care and Protection or, as the case may be, the county court office a request in Form F15 that he or another person—
(a) be joined as a party or
(b) cease to be a party.
(2) As soon as practicable after receiving a request under paragraph (1), the court shall do one of the following—
(a) in the case only of a request under paragraph 1(a), grant the request;
(b) direct that a date be fixed for the hearing of the request and fix a date; or
(c) invite written representations as to whether the request should be granted, to be filed within a specified period, and upon expiry of that period act under sub-paragraph (a) or (b) as it sees fit;
and the proper officer, or as the case may be, chief clerk shall inform the following persons of the court’s action under this paragraph—
(i) the person making the request,
(ii) the applicant and the respondent,
(iii) (if different) the person who is the subject of the proceedings, and
(iv) any other person directed by the court.
(3) The court may direct—
(a) that a person who would not otherwise be a respondent under these rules be joined as a party to the proceedings; or
(b) that a party to the proceedings cease to be a party,
and such a direction may be made by the court of its own motion as well as upon a request under paragraph (1).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1996/322/rule/3.44 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/family-proceedings-rules-northern-ireland-1996/rule-3.44
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.