HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) will be closing the MyHMCTS portal from 31 March 2022 as new no-fault divorce rules take effect in England and Wales.
A new system for applications is expected to be available on 6 April.
In practical terms, the closure means that from 31 March to 5 April, the digital service will not accept new applications.
From 31 March 2022, legal advisers will no longer be able to use the current paper or digital systems to make an application, or access a saved digital application not yet issued by the court.
Applications saved on the current service must be submitted by 4pm on 31 March. Paper applications must be received by the court by the same time.
HMCTS has advised it will continue to accept urgent applications where the issue of the divorce petition is time critical, such as when it is critical for jurisdiction or when a freezing injunction is needed.
Decree nisi and decree absolute applications that have been issued will be saved and remain available on the service.
The closure comes after a notification appeared on the portal last month advising that the current digital divorce service would be “closing soon” due to upcoming reform.
The new no-fault divorce regime is designed to remove conflict from the legal separation process. Under the new rules, separating spouses will no longer have the ability to make allegations about the conduct of a spouse and will allow couples to end their marriage jointly.
HMCTS state they engaged with practitioners on the new system, including interviews, focus groups, demonstrations and discussions to explain and test the forthcoming changes and gather feedback.
The new system is also expected to result in lower legal fees for divorce, as the time it takes legal advisers to draft the divorce petition is reduced.
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Gill Laing is a qualified Legal Researcher & Analyst with niche specialisms in Law, Tax, Human Resources, Immigration & Employment Law.
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