High Court rules that divorces submitted after IT error are legally valid

A total of 79 divorces that were wrongly approved following a computer error are legally valid, the High Court has ruled.

The divorce applications were submitted one day before they should have been according to the law, following a technological mistake at His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 states that the application for a divorce order may not be made before a year has passed since the marriage date. This means that a year and a day needs to have elapsed.

However, the IT mix-up meant the individuals in question submitted their applications on the first anniversary of their marriages (a day earlier than should have happened).

The court heard that several of those involved in the case had experienced “significant distress” regarding whether they were legally divorced from their former partners or not.

President of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane said that at least 11 of the people affected had remarried, others have given notice of intention to remarry, 19 had commenced financial remedy proceedings, and 17 final financial remedy orders had been made by the courts.

Sir Andrew added: “If HMCTS had conducted a proper investigation when the problem was first drawn to their attention, it is likely that none, or almost none, of the 79 cases would have had final orders made and the present application would not have been necessary.”

An error in the HMCTS system, which was allowing applications to be made a day early, was discovered in November 2022 when a judge noticed the issue and flagged it with HMCTS. The computer system was fixed and that case dealt with.

Additional investigations showed a total of 96 cases had been submitted a day early and those that had not had a final order were stopped. However, final orders had been made in 79 cases.

The 158 people directly affected by the case have until 31 January to provide a statement stating their divorces should be declared void, otherwise they will be confirmed.