HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is moving all divorce applications online.
It said that from Monday 13 September legal representatives must submit all applications through its MyHMCTS portal, although there will be a transitional period from 14 September to 4 October when HMCTS will continue to process paper applications.
The change follows an update to the Family Procedure Rules made by the President of the Family Division in August.
The only exceptions are applications for civil partnership dissolution, judicial separation and nullity, which should be filed at the Bury St. Edmunds Regional Divorce Centre.
MyHMCTS is an online service for issuing, paying for and managing applications in the civil and family courts and tribunals. It was launched in 2018 since when it has processed over 150,000 divorce applications.
Reliability factor
Adam Lennon, deputy director, family at HMCTS, commented: “Covid-19 has shown how MyHMCTS helps us to provide a modern, reliable service.
“Applications are proceeding more smoothly, and we now return fewer than 1% of online applications compared to around 20% of paper applications for legal representatives to amend or provide more information. That means divorcing couples can move forward with their lives faster.
“We’re really pleased with the way the service has been adopted. Around 70% of all divorce applications are now being made using MyHMCTS and it’s helping us to finalise divorces in an average of 20 weeks compared to around 60 weeks for paper applications.
“By mandating the service now, we can begin preparing MyHMCTS to meet the requirements of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 which come into force on 6 April 2022.”
Image from iStock, heliopix
