Computer glitch causes panic over potentially void divorces in England and Wales

A procedural IT oversight has caused panic for many formerly married couples who believed that they were legally divorced. The computer system glitch failed to detect that their divorce applications were submitted too early, meaning that these divorces may not be legally valid.

The consequences — especially for individuals who have since gone on to re-marry — could be serious. Plus, with ever more technology being integrated into our legal processes, this issue serves as a stark warning of what can go wrong. 

Divorce applications submitted too early

A hearing recently took place before the President of the Family Division and HHJ Roberts that addressed 158 individuals in divorce applications who believed that they had legitimately applied for (and been granted) their final order (formerly known as a decree absolute), legally ending their marriage. This equates to 79 total divorce applications that may be invalid. 

The earliest that a married couple who want to apply for a divorce can do so online is 12 months and one day after the date of marriage. This rule has been around forever and it seems to have been the ‘one day’ aspect that has caught the technology out. Some kind of glitch in the computer system failed to detect that the divorce application was being submitted too early from when the date of marriage had been entered into the system.

Voidable divorces and the crime of bigamy

The question now being asked is whether these divorce are ‘void’ (completely invalid) — which would  mean that the couples are still legally married — or ‘voidable’, giving the court discretion to uphold the final order.

If the court decides that these divorces were completely invalid, those individuals who have gone on to re-marry may face serious consequences as they would have committed the crime of bigamy — marrying someone while already being legally married to someone else. 

Bigamy is illegal in the UK and carries a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment. 

Financial consequences

There could also be serious consequences affecting these couples’ finances. When a divorcing couple reaches an agreement on how the matrimonial pot is to be divided, it’s contained within a legally binding court order called a financial consent order. That order is only enforceable once the divorce has been finalised and a final order (decree absolute) has been granted. 

If any pension sharing order had been made (sharing one spouse’s pension with the other), then that order can only be implemented by the pension administrators if the final order has been legally granted. Therefore, if the divorces are classed as void, it’s likely to mean that any pension sharing orders are void as well.

Overdependence on technology?

This case also raises concerns around whether the courts are over-dependent on computer systems. Issues like this simply shouldn’t happen and cause more time and resource to be spent on fixing what went wrong at a time when the courts are already facing a significant backlog of cases.

As AI becomes more prevalent and integrated into legal processes, there must be stringent testing and failsafes in place to pick up these issues before they cause panic and potentially spark serious legal and financial consequences for couples who believed that they had properly engaged with the legal system.

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