UK Couple’s Accidental Divorce Due to Law Firm’s Clerical Error: Report

The divorce of a couple, referred to as Mr and Mrs Williams, was unexpectedly finalized due to a clerical error at a London law firm. The couple had been married for 21 years and were in the process of negotiating their separation.

The mistake occurred when lawyers at Vardags, the firm representing the wife, accidentally filed a final divorce order for the Williamses while handling paperwork for another client. The divorce application was approved within 21 minutes, and the error was only discovered several days later, leaving the couple divorced irreversibly.

Mrs Williams attempted to reverse the accidental divorce, but her efforts were promptly rejected by Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the family court division. Ayesha Vardag, the founder of Vardags and known as the “diva of divorce,” criticized the decision, stating that the state should not be divorcing people based on a clerical error and emphasized the importance of intention in the justice of the legal system.

Vardag also expressed her belief that the decision would be overturned in a higher court, but acknowledged that the outcome was that the wife who wanted a divorce had obtained one, questioning the worth of challenging it. She highlighted the flaw in the current law that allows for divorce due to an error made on an online system and criticized its lack of sensibility and justice.