Civil way: 2 November 2018

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is beating itself up. As its online divorce project progresses, its consultation is taking place on abandoning any degree of fault as a basis for obtaining a divorce. The irony is that if the MoJ was thoroughly sick of itself it would have a prima facie case of unreasonable behaviour against the MoJ.

As to the project, the target is to extend the online service, which is currently being tested with a small group of family solicitors, to make it more widely available to the profession by the end of this year. Facilities for respondents to acknowledge service online and for petitioners to apply for a decree online should be available in early 2019 with full roll out by the end of next year. Expansion to cover civil partnerships and other matrimonial orders is some way off. The official line is that divorce reform, with the consultation running until 10 December 2018, may change the shape