If you could attach an extract from the said document showing the problem, it might be possible to give definite advice.

From what you've described, it sounds like you have a NUMPAGES field in the footnote separator line. To access that line, switch to Draft View, then click on any footnote reference in the body of the document. Just above the footnotes there'll be a horizontal toolbar with a dropdown from which you can select the footnote separator (plus a few other footnote-related items).

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]