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Two months since divorce went fully digital, Sandy Hills, a solicitor in our Family department, reflects on the recent transition period and looks to the future of divorce applications along with the benefits of the MyHMCTS platform.
In January 2020 the MyHMCTS platform became available to solicitors and I was tasked with setting my team up with the new platform. At the time, the online portal had been available to the public for some time, but paper divorce applications were still the norm. Applications had begun to go to larger regional divorce centres rather than local courts. These regional centres found themselves inundated, causing severe backlog.
Initially, the introduction of a new digital platform was not quite the saving grace that family solicitors had hoped for. This was due to initial teething problems developing a system designed for litigants in person into one that could also accommodate professionals.
Most of these problems have now been resolved and separating couples are beginning to see the benefits of the digital service.
Firstly, online applications are received and processed far quicker than paper applications cutting down delays and alleviating some of the stress that comes with the process.
Additionally, the number of misplaced applications or administrative mistakes have reduced drastically because of the automation.
The system is also easy to navigate, avoids legal or technical jargon and ensures all necessary information is inputted meaning applications are not unnecessarily rejected.
In some circumstances, this digitisation can remove the need for solicitor input and save costs. However, most clients are still keen for their solicitor to manage their applications, or at least to advise them on the side.
Instructing a solicitor in some capacity is always recommended to make sure matters do not move too fast (or too slow), ensure all legal consequences are understood and guarantee the financial aspects are not neglected throughout the process.
Whilst certain applications including civil partnership dissolutions, judicial separations and nullities must still be filed in paper, all divorce applications are now to be served via the digital system. This is certainly a positive step towards the modernisation and simplification of the divorce process.
In April 2022, the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act will come into force. This will see the initial need to apportion blame being removed and will undoubtedly complement the new digital procedure, by removing a contentious step and simplifying it further.
To talk to one of our family law advisers, please call us on 01689 887887.