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A court bundle is not just a folder of case documents combined into one PDF. It is a hearing-ready set of evidence and records: someone must decide what belongs, arrange it, make it navigable and legible, check its accuracy, and file it in the format and by the deadline the court requires. The details below concern courts in England and Wales; rules differ elsewhere, and the judge’s directions and court-specific instructions take priority.
What a court bundle is—and what it is not
A bundle is a curated set of documents for a particular hearing, not an archive of everything filed or collected during a case. Its purpose is to let the judge, parties and, where relevant, witnesses find and use the material that matters to the hearing.
That distinction makes assembly a substantive task. Including irrelevant or unnecessary material can obscure the documents the court needs; omitting a required item can leave the bundle incomplete. The applicable rules depend on the type of proceeding. The Judiciary’s general e-bundle guidance is not a universal rulebook and expressly excludes tribunal hearings. Civil trials, judicial reviews and family proceedings have separate requirements.
Who is responsible for preparing it?
Responsibility depends on the proceeding and any case-specific direction. For a civil trial, the claimant files the bundle. CPR Practice Direction 32 makes the legal representative with conduct of the claim responsible for its preparation and production even if the work is delegated. Delegation can shift the production work, but not that stated responsibility.
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In family proceedings, the applicant normally prepares the bundle. If the applicant is representing themselves, the represented respondent is normally responsible, unless the court directs otherwise. Always check the order and the current rules for the specific hearing.
How teams assemble a hearing-ready bundle
1. Read the directions and identify the applicable rules
Before collecting documents, establish the hearing type, filing deadline, permitted format, responsible person and any instructions in the court’s order. A general guide may be displaced by a case-specific direction or court-specific filing instruction. Do not apply civil trial requirements to a family case, or general court guidance to a tribunal hearing, without checking what governs that matter.
2. Select and agree the contents
For a civil trial, the bundle will generally include the pleadings, relevant witness statements and expert or medical reports, applicable notices and trial directions, and other documents necessary for the hearing. Parties are encouraged to agree the contents; if they cannot agree, the bundle should include a summary of the disputed points. The aim is material the court needs, not everything either side has.
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Family Procedure Rules Practice Direction 27A is more explicit about excluding categories such as correspondence, messages, recordings, financial records, photographs and specified social-services records unless they are needed or the court directs otherwise. In both settings, selection requires judgment about relevance and likely use.
Order matters too. In civil cases, contemporaneous documents relied on by a party are generally arranged chronologically by creation date unless the court directs otherwise. Expert reports may be placed in a separate section and cross-referenced. Where a civil case requires several volumes, a core bundle can collect essential documents and point readers to supplementary volumes. Judicial reviews have a distinct core-bundle rule: when the hearing bundle exceeds 400 pages, parties must agree the contents of a core bundle; required contents include the pleadings and the challenged decision or measure.
3. Create an index, sequence and pagination that work together
The index, document order and page numbers must agree, so a reader can move from an entry to the intended document and page. Civil trial bundles should be indexed and continuously paginated, with numbered dividers when the bundle exceeds 100 pages.
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For electronic bundles, the Judiciary’s general guidance calls for computer-generated page numbers starting at page 1, continuing through the bundle and matching the PDF page numbering. Each index entry should link to its document, and bookmarks should identify significant documents and sections. Family PD27A has its own pagination provisions: the rules differ for financial-remedy and other family cases, so a single general numbering recipe cannot safely be assumed.
4. Make the PDF searchable and readable
Scans of typed pages are images, not searchable text. Optical character recognition (OCR) adds a text layer, making it easier to search, highlight and copy words. OCR does not remove the need to inspect the scan: recognition can be inaccurate, especially on poor-quality pages, and the image itself still needs to be legible.
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For family bundles, PD27A also says that, where possible, documents should use at least 12-point type, 1.5 or double line spacing, margins, and Arial or Times New Roman. Those family-specific requirements should not be treated as a general rule for every court bundle.
5. Reconcile electronic and paper copies
If both electronic and paper versions are required, their pagination should match. Civil trial guidance expects identical bundles for parties and witnesses and normally calls for double-sided copies. Family proceedings generally expect an e-bundle, but paper copies are required in specified circumstances—for example, where there is a realistic possibility that a witness will give evidence in person, unless the court directs that equipment be used instead.
For a family paper bundle, PD27A normally specifies one A4 ring binder or lever arch file, subject to the court’s directions and its sheet and side limits. Do not assume a paper copy is needed, or that an electronic one alone is sufficient: follow the order and applicable rules.
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6. File the bundle and handle later changes carefully
Use the filing route, format and timing required by the order and the rules for that proceeding. Under the general civil trial-bundle timetable, the bundle is normally filed no more than seven and no less than three days before trial, unless the court orders otherwise. Judicial reviews have separate deadlines for hearing bundles and authorities bundles, so the civil-trial timetable should not be carried over to them.
The Judiciary’s 2021 general e-bundle guidance recommends naming a file with the case reference, short case name and bundle type. It also recommends putting the case number, case name, hearing date and judge’s name, if known, in an email subject line. That guidance states an aggregate maximum of 36 MB for justice.gov email messages and attachments; it mentions the Document Upload Centre as a possible route for larger bundles by prior arrangement. Confirm the current channel and limits with the relevant court before filing.
If a bundle already sent to a judge needs additions, the general guidance says to add new pages at the end, ask the court how to provide them, and supply both the new material and a revised bundle unless directed otherwise. That approach matters because a judge may have annotated the original version.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the requirements differ by proceeding
| Proceeding or guidance | What to know | Practical implication |
|---|---|---|
| General court e-bundle guidance | Applies as general guidance for court hearings, but expressly excludes tribunal hearings; local directions may control. | Use it as a baseline only after checking the court’s instructions. |
| Civil trial bundle | CPR PD32 addresses responsibility, timing, contents, indexing, pagination, copies, chronology and paper format. | The legal representative with conduct remains responsible even if someone else assembles the bundle. |
| Judicial review | PD54A sets a 400-page trigger for an agreed core bundle and separate hearing-bundle and authorities-bundle deadlines. | Apply the judicial-review rules rather than assuming the civil trial timetable applies. |
| Family proceedings | PD27A has dedicated rules for contents, responsibility, format, pagination and filing. | Use the current family rules, not superseded family e-bundle guidance. |
Family PD27A came into force on 2 March 2026, replacing the previous family e-bundle guidance. It sets a default e-bundle maximum of 350 pages; exceeding it requires the court’s permission. For a paper family bundle in a single A4 ring binder or lever arch file, the ordinary limits are 175 sheets or 350 sides unless the court directs otherwise. These are family-proceeding limits, not universal caps.
Why the work is more than file merging
Combining documents into a PDF does not establish that the bundle is complete, properly limited to the hearing, correctly ordered or compliant with the relevant directions. The consequential work is in the decisions and checks around that PDF: selecting material, recording disagreements where required, coordinating numbering and index links, catching unreadable or misoriented pages, and ensuring the filed version matches what the court expects.
Software can help with OCR, page numbering, bookmarks, links and file optimisation, but those functions do not determine what the court should receive or which procedural rules govern. Nor do the official sources cited here establish a standard preparation time, cost or error rate; those figures should not be assumed.
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