{"id":91634,"date":"2018-05-06T11:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=a59b13ed2753dbedb8fa7e262fbdf638"},"modified":"2018-05-06T11:00:01","modified_gmt":"2018-05-06T11:00:01","slug":"press-release-fully-digital-divorce-application-launched-to-the-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=91634","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Fully digital divorce application launched to the public"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The online service offers prompts and guidance to assist people in completing their application, and uses clear, non-technical language. The whole process can be completed online, including payment and uploading supporting evidence.<\/p>\n<p>More than 1,000 petitions were issued through the new system during the testing phase \u2013 with 91% of people saying they were satisfied with the service. The new, refined and easy to use version was rolled out across England and Wales from 1 May.<\/p>\n<p>Court staff currently spend 13,000 hours dealing with complex paper divorce forms, but this simpler and less technical online service has already contributed to a 95% drop in the number of applications being returned because of mistakes, when compared with paper forms. This means only 0.6% of forms have been rejected since January.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Minister Lucy Frazer, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Allowing divorce applications to be made online will help make sure we are best supporting people going through an often difficult and painful time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">More people will have the option of moving from paper-based processes to online systems which will cut waste, speed up services which can be safely expedited, and otherwise better fit with modern day life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>These changes are part of \u00a31 billion programme to transform the court system &#8211; making it quicker, more accessible and easier to use for all. Other examples of the government\u2019s court reforms which are making access to justice easier for everyone include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A digital system which makes it quicker and easier for people to claim money owed, resolve disputes out of court and access mediation.<\/li>\n<li>A new service which allows people to submit their tax appeals online \u2013 drastically cutting the number of applications being returned as incomplete or inaccurate.<\/li>\n<li>A paperless system, in operation at Lavender Hill Magistrates\u2019 Court, which means thousands of offenders caught dodging fares or using fraudulent tickets can now be punished more swiftly and effectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"notes-to-editors\">Notes to editors:<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Two case studies are available for interview. Please call the MoJ press office on 020 3334 4872 for more information.<\/li>\n<li>Rebecca, who did not want her last name to be used, received legal confirmation of her divorce 11.5 weeks after submitting her application &#8211; the paper process takes around six months. She said: \u201cThank you ever so much for making this process so much less painful than it could have been, especially as a disabled person. The service was a lot easier because I use a wheelchair and didn\u2019t have to go out, and I also found it very easy as an autistic person to get support from the team when I had questions.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Elaine Everett was separated for more than two years before applying for her divorce, which she has now received.<br \/>\nShe said: \u201cIt was marvellous, pain free and less stressful than the paper form which I tried several years ago to complete but got fed up of it being rejected.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Some 91% of people satisfied with the service relates to 1100 people questioned.<\/li>\n<li>Evidence has shown 40% of divorce applications are rejected at the first stage due to the forms not being complete or missing documents. Since January, from the circa 1100 applications only 0.6% have been rejected, due to us monitoring, evaluating and understanding the reasons for rejections and developing the system to eliminate these.<\/li>\n<li>Speaking at a lecture earlier this month, Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division of the Hight Court, said: \u201cThe online divorce pilot has been a triumphant success and shows, to my mind conclusively, that this is \u2013 must be the way of the future.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The stress of applying for a divorce could be eased thanks to a new online service that removes the need for paper forms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}