It is best to use the official form of application notice N244 . The court office will give you a print of the form or you can download it, where you can complete the form online before printing it off, if you wish.

Helpful notes come with the form. They are at the end in the online version.

Question 3 requires you both to describe the order you are asking the judge to make and to say why it should be made. Be sure to do both.

Question 4 indicates that you can attach a draft of the order you are applying for. If you do not have legal assistance, it is probably better not to attempt this.

Question 5 asks whether you want the application dealt with at a hearing or without one. If the application is straightforward or you do not think it would be opposed, you might want to choose the second option. If the judge reading it disagrees with your choice, he will fix a hearing anyway. Bear in mind that if an order is made without a hearing, a party is entitled to ask for it to be reviewed at a hearing.

Question 8 asks for the level of judge to deal with the application. If it relates to case management, this will be a District Judge (Master in the Royal Courts of Justice in London) unless the case has been assigned for management to a Circuit Judge (“His Honour Judge …” or “Her Honour Judge …”) or to a High Court Judge (“Mr Justice …” or “Mrs Justice …”).

Question 9 asks who should be served. Generally it will be the other party or parties to the case. If the application is dealt with without a hearing, the notice will still be served.

The application must be supported by evidence. You can rely on an attached witness statement, the Statements of Case (Particulars of Claim, Defence etc.) or a statement you write into the form itself; or any combination. A statement written into the form must bear a Statement of Truth signed by the maker. This is in addition to the signature of the applicant which is also required, even if it is the same person.

Make a copy of the form for each person who is to be served and don’t forget to make one for yourself.

Check with the court office that they will serve the copies for you. If they have a problem with this, do it yourself.

The court office will tell you the amount of the court fee you must pay on filing the application. They will also tell you, if you ask, whether you can secure a reduction in the court fees or exemption from them because of limited means.