Divorce by Mistake

As reported by The Guardian:

A couple were divorced by mistake after solicitors at a leading law firm made a computer error but a senior judge has said it cannot be overturned.

The couple, referred to as Mr and Mrs Williams by the high court, were married for 21 years until they separated in 2023.

Solicitors at the London firm Vardags, headed by Ayesha Vardag, the self-styled “diva of divorce”, used an online portal to mistakenly apply for a final order for the couple, who were still attempting to agree financial arrangements for their split.

So what was the “computer error”?  To quote from the judgment:

The solicitors acting for the applicant, who had used the online divorce portal to apply for the final order, did so without the instruction or authority of their client, Mrs Williams. The solicitors have explained that the member of staff involved had intended to apply for a final order of divorce for another client, in a different divorce case, but inadvertently opened the electronic case file in ‘Williams v Williams’ and proceeded to apply for a final order in that case.

Going by the order, this led to a lot more confusion than the reports indicate.  Consider, for instance, this notable submission by the husband’s counsel:

For a number of months, the Husband had not known whether he was married or not.