The High Court held on Thursday that 79 final divorce orders were voidable and not void. An application for a divorce order may not be made before the expiration of the period of one year from the date of the marriage. This has long been accepted to mean one year and one day. A software glitch in the HMCTS software allowed the couples to apply for a divorce order a day early, and final divorce orders were granted. Some of the individuals affected had gone on to remarry.
The Lord Chancellor applied successfully for declarations that on the date of the final order in the couples’ respective divorce proceedings, their marriages no longer subsisted. The Court held that the divorce orders were voidable, and not void, finding that it was “inconceivable” that Parliament would have intended that a final order in these circumstances must automatically be set aside as void and having no legal standing.
Sarah Hannett KC was instructed by Government Legal Department.
The judgment is here.