“Computer says No”
Technical error leads to unwanted divorce
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A married couple is divorced against their will due to a technical error. The two sued in court against the divorce, but without success. How could this even happen?
In a curious legal case in Great Britain, a law firm’s mistake resulted in involuntary Divorce of a couple who actually wanted to stay married. The divorce of the Williams couple, who have been married for 21 years, was inadvertently brought about by an entry error on the online divorce portal “HM Courts and Tribunals Service” by an employee of the renowned law firm Vardag’s. The person wanted to obtain the divorce decree for another couple, but selected the wrong file. 21 minutes later the divorce was finalized.
The judge shows no mercy
The firm noticed the error just two days after the application was filed and immediately attempted to have the divorce annulled. But the judge responsible, Sir Andrew McFarlane, rejected this application. In his reasoning, he stated that there was a strong public interest in “respecting the certainty and finality that arise from a final divorce decree and in preserving the status quo it creates.” Its rejection gives effect to the status quo, which means that once final decisions have been made, they cannot be easily reversed.
The law firm blames the state
The judge’s decision stood despite the couple’s protests that there was no consent to the divorce. However, the court said, the law firm was generally entitled to process the filed divorce petition on behalf of Ms. Williams, which meant the filed petition was deemed valid. Ayesha Vardag, the head of the law firm, commented critically on the verdict and emphasized that it was unfair to divorce people based on a clerical error. She argued that if the state is aware of such an error, it is obliged to correct it.
A piquant detail is surprising: why was the application even available?
Interestingly, it was revealed that Ms. Williams had already filed for divorce with Vardag’s in January 2023. Whether their plan has changed since then remains unclear. This raises the question of whether the couple – or at least Ms. Williams – perhaps had intentions for divorce that were only put into action by the incident.
Source used: bbc.com