Introduction: MSUK Group complies with the requirements of Family Mediation Association and the Civil Medication Council. MSUK Group will deal promptly and courteously with any complaint, formal or informal, made to the service. The cause of any problem of which...
OTHER INSIGHTS
The MOJ extends the mediation voucher scheme by a further 1.3 million
On Monday Lord Wolfson the Under Secretary of State for Justice and the President of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane spoke at the launch of Mediation Week. Both stated their desire to make mediation the default position for most family disputes. Lord Wolfson...
Parents to face cost orders for failing to engage in Mediation
The Justice secretary Dominic Raab speaking to the justice committee of the House of Commons last week stated that over 50% of cases in the court system did not need to be heard by a judge. In November the Justice secretary outlined his plans that parents who are...
Online Divorce Applications
All divorce applications must now be filed online using MyHMCTS. This meets the requirements of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, which is coming into force on 6 April 2022.
The only exceptions, which should be filed at the Bury St. Edmunds Regional Divorce Centre, are applications for:
• Civil partnership dissolution.
• Judicial separation.
• Nullity.
MyHMCTS allows applications to be submitted at any time and from any location.
There has been a huge decease in the number of online petitions that have been returned and it has been said that less than 1% of applications are being returned (compared to a previous figure of 20% of paper applications). This is according to Adam Lennon, Deputy Director of the MyHMCTS Family team. He highlights that divorces applied for online are being finalised in an average of 20 weeks, whereas those applied for on paper are taking 60 weeks which will come as welcome relief for many separating couples.