It has been reported this week that, between April 2022 and April 2024, a total of 96 applications for divorce were made on the first anniversary of the marriage. In 79 of those cases, a final order had since been granted.
A divorce can only be applied for after 12 months from the date of the marriage (i.e. a year and a day later) and so, had those couples waited just one more day, there would not have been an issue.
Unfortunately, the court’s online divorce portal failed to detect the problem and the applications were wrongly issued. Some of those affected have now remarried or are planning to and they have been left in limbo.
The High Court has been asked by lawyers for the Justice Secretary to determine that the divorces are “voidable” rather than “void” so as to minimise the consequences for those affected. Judgment is awaited but one would hope that the court will be able to find a way around the issue for the benefit of all concerned.
A hearing in London on Wednesday was told that 79 divorces were incorrectly approved after the applications were submitted a day before the law allows. An online system failed to detect that the submissions came a year after marriage, when the law only permits divorces from a year and a day.