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For the past 20 months, thousands of couples that have pursued divorces – and more importantly asked the court to rule on how their assets should be divided – have been providing the courts and the judges ruling on their cases with wrong information through no fault of their own.

Due to an error present on form E (a document used to collect information on assets), individuals’ wealth has been consistently overestimated.

As a result, any judgement that was reached with this information must be reviewed and adjusted as necessary. As concerning as the initial mistake may be, however, it should be noted that form E was available for more than 20 months and is estimated to have been used in more than 20,000 cases yet not one court employee, solicitor or judge that reviewed them noticed the error! Instead, it was a McKenzie friend (an individual that, whilst not necessarily legally-trained, helps an unrepresented friend by advising them in court) who, following them having noticed the error, promptly contacted the Ministry of Justice.

The inference here is clear: that judges and other court staff were simply too rushed off their feet, too adversely affected by cuts to take the time needed to notice this simple mistake.

For solicitors, a lack of time could also be a contributing factor as could a disregard for their clients’ wellbeing; a contention supported by one Brian Norman who informed the Telegraph that he told his solicitor about the error but that they simply did nothing. In truth, it is most likely to be a combination of both. This does not bode well for members of a profession that persistently claim that any attempt at doing your own divorce, using an online service or, ultimately, not instructing them will result in adverse complications! Indeed, evidence to the contrary is continuing to build!

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