Couples will be able to divorce online this year under plans that could open the way for the abolition of fault-based grounds for ending marriage.
Ministers are preparing a pilot project to allow divorce proceedings to be issued digitally for the first time, in a move to save time, paperwork and stress for thousands of people. More than 110,000 divorce proceedings were begun in 2015.
The plan, backed by England’s most senior family judge, Sir James Munby, will be tested before being introduced across England and Wales in June.
Family judges and lawyers predict that it will increase calls for the scrapping of fault-based grounds for divorce.
The aim is to allow divorce petitions to be lodged online, with both parties being able to upload copies of any relevant documents but any disputes over children and finances will still have to go before a court or through mediation.
