In a non-contentious matter, must the hearing be held behind closed doors, and may anyone be let in to sit through it?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In practice material of this kind we read the court's minute of the hearing, which should show whether the hearing was held without the public present, and any application or request naming a person who sought to sit in, together with any note of the court's response to it.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading treats closed doors as the standing rule for a hearing under the Non-Contentious Matters Procedure Act: the provision says the hearing is not made public, and the sole exception is the court's own permission for a person it recognises as appropriate to observe it.
Another reading stresses what the permission is worth: it lets a named person 'observe', which is narrower than opening the hearing to the public, and the provision leaves open what makes a person appropriate in the court's view and whether a party may ask for such permission.
Your judgment
If a person was let in and another was refused, what in the papers could show the basis on which the court treated the first as appropriate?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to widen or narrow who may be admitted, or if a court decision sets out what counts as a person for whom public attendance is appropriate.