The court would consider the questionnaire and decide what directions are needed and
what the timetable should be. It would give great weight to agreed directions and
time-limits put forward by the parties, although it would retain a discretion to override
the agreement where it considers the directions and time-limits agreed to be
unreasonable. The court could, if it thinks fit, make orders nisi on the basis of the
questionnaire so that a hearing of the summons for directions could be dispensed with
if the parties, seeing those orders nisi, decide to accept them. If, on the other hand, a
party were to object to all or some of the orders nisi, the summons for directions
would be called on for hearing.