How to organise evidence for court

When you are preparing for a court hearing, the way you organise your evidence matters as much as the evidence itself. A judge who cannot find a document quickly is a judge who may not give it the weight it deserves. Here is how to get your documents in order.

Start with a list

Before you start assembling anything, make a list of every document you think might be relevant. This includes:

• Court orders and applications
• Witness statements and position statements
• Letters and emails between the parties
• Financial documents (bank statements, payslips, valuations)
• Photographs or screenshots
• Expert reports
• Any other supporting evidence

Once you have your list, go through it and remove anything that is not directly relevant to the issues the court is being asked to decide. Quality matters more than quantity.

Group by category

Court bundles are typically divided into sections. A common structure for family proceedings is:

1. Applications and orders — the documents that started the case and any orders made so far
2. Statements and position statements — written evidence from both parties
3. Correspondence — key letters, emails, or messages
4. Financial documents — if relevant to the case
5. Expert evidence — reports from valuers, social workers, or other professionals
6. Other supporting documents — anything else the court needs

Within each section, documents should be in chronological order (oldest first). This makes it easy for the judge to follow the sequence of events.

Paginate everything

Every page in the bundle must have a consecutive page number. This means page 1 starts at the first page of the first document and the numbering runs through the entire bundle without restarting.

Why? Because the judge, the other party, and any advocates will refer to documents by page number. If your numbering is inconsistent or missing, nobody can find anything efficiently.

Create a table of contents

The front page of your bundle should be an index listing every document, which section it is in, and which page it starts on. For example:

| Document | Page | |----------|------| | Application C100 dated 15 January 2025 | 1 | | Order of District Judge Smith dated 3 February 2025 | 5 | | Applicant's statement dated 20 February 2025 | 9 | | Respondent's statement dated 10 March 2025 | 15 |

A hyperlinked table of contents in a PDF bundle is even better — it allows the judge to click directly to the relevant document.

Practical tips

• Use PDF format — courts generally prefer PDF bundles. If you have Word documents or images, convert them to PDF before assembling.
• Make sure scans are legible — if you are scanning paper documents, check that the text is readable. A blurry scan is as good as no document at all.
• Do not include duplicates — if the same letter appears in the correspondence from both sides, include it once.
• Check your page numbers — after assembling, flick through the bundle and make sure the pagination matches the table of contents.
• File on time — check the court's directions for when the bundle must be filed and served. Late bundles may be refused.

When to get help

If your case involves a large volume of documents, or if you are unsure how to structure your bundle for a particular type of hearing, it may be worth getting professional help.

CaseFile takes your uploaded documents and produces a properly formatted, paginated bundle with a hyperlinked table of contents — following the standard practice for your court and case type. You focus on your case; we handle the paperwork.