Twenty-eight divorce petitions filed by the same company have been dismissed by a family court judge after they were deemed to be identical to each other.
The petitions were dismissed by Mr Justice Moor in the High Court after it was found that a specialist online divorce company, iDivorces, had copied and pasted template wording for all 28 petitions. In each case the same 145 words were used to explain that each of the petitioners alleged that they had been ignored on “about two days a week”, making their marriages impossible to continue.
The petitions were discovered and referred by Deputy District Judge McHardy at the divorce unit at Bury St. Edmunds, following which, in a ruling at the High Court, Moor J said it was “quite impossible” for each of the 28 respondents to have behaved in exactly the same way, and that the petitions were “improper”.
In the ruling Moor J said that no-fault divorces are yet to come, and that couples must still put forward genuine reasons to justify divorce until the law changes next April.
Mr Eastham, Director of the unregulated provider, iDivorces, admitted that the company had used a standard wording template on each petition and sent it to each client for approval before filing with the court. Moor J said it was “tolerably clear” that the petitioners had not made any amendments to the petitions and made clear this was not the correct way to proceed. Eastham has now “apologised profusely”.
It is reported that Moor J had considered referring the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions for perverting the course of justice, but concluded that there would be insufficient public benefit and would be disproportionate to do so. He did however warn that he would have “no hesitation” in referring the case if there was any repeat. Moor J also released his judgment to the BAILII website to deter others from engaging in similar conduct.
Moor J said in his ruling:
“It follows that I have no alternative but to dismiss all 28 of these divorce petitions. The petitioners will simply have to start again. I hope it will be possible for them to proceed relatively quickly.”
