With the online divorce system now open to all legal professionals, some Resolution members have been experiencing “unacceptable problems” with the service.
Juliet Harvey, vice Chair and incoming Chair for Resolution, has been in regular contact with HMCTS regarding the experiences and suggesting improvements.
Current issues revolve around the functionality of logins, ability to access and manage cases, and the ability for the respondent to add legal representation.
The issue whereby an applicant’s solicitor to log in to the system, as well as the ability for them to access and manage cases within it are expected to be resolved by the end of February.
The issue regarding the respondent being able to add their legal representation on the system is not expected to be resolved quite so quickly and existing cases who have applied will be contacted by HMCTS and moved to the paper service.
The advice from Resolution in regards to this has been:
“If it is unrealistic to wait for the system to be fixed and you are in touch with the respondent’s solicitor, you may wish to consider with them issuing the divorce on paper, or agreeing that an online citizen (LiP) petition will be served on the respondent as if they are an unrepresented party.”
Resolution have also promised to continue pressing HMCTS on the issues and update members as soon as possible.