Family court blocks identically worded divorce petitions
28 divorce petitions from the same company itemised ‘particulars of behaviour’ as absolutely identical to each other.
You can read the judgement in full here on the bailii website.
No fault divorce comes into law in the April next year when the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 comes into force.
However, the present law maintains the need for establishing one of the ‘five facts,’ where the sole ground for divorce is the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage [now Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 s1(1)].
The five facts are: (a) adultery and the petitioner finds it intolerable to live with the respondent (b) that the respondent has behaved in such a way that the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent (c) desertion for a continuous period of at least two years (d) separation for a continuous period of at least two years and the respondent consents to the grant of a decree (e) separation for a continuous period of at least five years.
In this case, all these twenty-eight divorce petition cases from the same company had the exact same particulars of behaviour. They were found to be ‘absolutely identical’ to the other and as a result, all twenty-eight of these divorce petitions were dismissed.
It was noted that the the company concerned ‘apologised in court, said it was a misunderstanding and confirmed this will never happen again’.