Solicitors will not be able to seek divorce on behalf of their clients – unless it is urgent – for a week from the end of this month, as Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service prepares to introduce a new regime designed to eliminate conflicts from the legal process of separation.

Lawyers were shocked to find, when they logged into the MyHMCTS portal last month, that the current digital divorce service would be closing “soon” due to the upcoming reforms – but without any indication of what they have to do before the introduction of the new system.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service has now confirmed that the ‘old service’ will not be available from 31 March. A new system will come into effect on April 6.

Applications registered on the current service must be submitted by 4 p.m. on March 31. Paper applications must be received by the court within the same time frame.

From March 31, practitioners will no longer be able to apply on the current paper or digital systems, or access a registered digital application not yet issued by the court. From March 31 to April 5, the digital service will not accept new applications.

However, HMCTS will continue to accept urgent applications where the matter of the petition for divorce is urgent, for example where it is jurisdictionally critical or where a freezing injunction is needed. Nisi decree and absolute decree requests that have been issued will be recorded and will remain available on the service.

The new system ushers in a new era of “no-fault” divorce, removing the ability to make allegations about a spouse’s conduct and allowing couples to end their marriages together.

HMCTS confirmed that it has engaged with practitioners on the new system, including interviews, focus groups, demonstrations and discussions to explain and test the upcoming changes and gather feedback.

Last month, Slater and Gordon announced that he had halved his petitioner set fees as a result of the reforms. The announcement prompted the Gazette ask other firms if they intend to lower their fees.

Helen Clyne, a partner in the family team at Debenhams Ottaway, said her company did not expect a significant change in costs.

“Since it was possible to submit divorce applications online in 2018 and then the entire process was moved online in 2019, we have seen a significant number of clients are comfortable with handle the process themselves. The system is user-friendly and straightforward for simple divorces,” Clyne said.

Caroline Ford, family team partner at Fletcher Day, said: ‘Under the circumstances under current law, where a divorce petition uses unreasonable behavior, it costs the client to write a list of unreasonable behavior sufficient to convince a judge that there should be a divorce. This cost will be removed, resulting in lower divorce costs.

“The removal under the new law of the ability to defend the divorce decision means that there will be no legal costs associated with defended divorces. Following the coming into force of the new Divorce Law, Fletcher Day’s divorce fees will be lower than usual, as the time required to draft the divorce petition is reduced.