Item from the Smart Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics Collection
he Times London

Easy escape from the ties that bind

Sean Hargrave Links

A "Dear John" letter and a trip to a solicitor was once the only way to
get divorced. Now computer users are turning to the net in their
thousands for the ultimate in quick settlements. For £60 anyone can
download all the necessary legal forms to file for divorce.

Desktop Lawyer, the first website in Britain to offer online divorce
papers, has published its first set of figures. They show that in its
first ten weeks, 18,000 visitors filed for divorce via the site - that's
six per cent of the UK's total divorce petitions for the period. The
majority of users were in their thirties and 80 per cent were men.

Visitors to the site first select the area in which they are interested
(wills and other agreements are also available). They can then add a £60
divorce to their "shopping basket" with the option of telephone support
at £1.75 minute.

Once the credit card details are entered and the forms bought, they can
be downloaded, with an accompanying form-filling program. This asks
questions that are then automatically pasted into the forms. The
responses can be edited later before the forms are printed and sent to
the court.

At present the divorce service can be used only with Windows 95, 98 or NT
running Netscape Navigator 4 or Microsoft Explorer 4 onwards.

Mike Carson, a television repairman from Manchester, is believed to be
one of the first people in Britain to have completed an online divorce.
His decree absolute came through last month, six weeks after he
downloaded the necessary program and accompanying forms from Desktop
Lawyer.

Mike was alerted to the service by a promotion run by his ISP, Freeserve.
He had gained the first part of a divorce, a decree nisi, nine years ago.
In the intervening years his legal costs had escalated and his lawyers
wanted a £3,500 bill to be met before they would proceed.

In desperation he turned to the online service to see if he could finally
get a decree absolute while he continued to save to pay off his lawyers.

"I looked at the site and couldn't believe how simple it looked," he
says.

"I put in my details on the website and then downloaded the necessary
program and forms. In all it probably took me about eight hours to
complete them. The really useful thing is the advice next to the boxes
that explain the process.

"After filling in the forms I had everything ready to print out that I
needed. I just had to send it off to the court and a hearing was
arranged. Six weeks and £30 later, I was divorced.

"To me, the service was such a godsend. I was staggered that all I had to
do was fill in the correct form and then I'd have all the necessary bits
of paper."

Desktop Lawyer believes that, although Mike already had a decree nisi, he
could qualify as the first person in Britain to get divorced online.

The website has been set up by Epoch Software, a company run by two
brothers who foresaw the net being the perfect means of providing cheap
and easy access to legal documents without the need for consulting
lawyers. The company denies claims by some lawyers and religious groups
that the service trivialises divorce. Instead it says the service saves
people the distress of talking to strangers about their personal life and
drags the legal profession into the information age.

"Technology is advancing at such a rate that the legal profession can no
longer afford to ignore it," warns Grahame Cohen, CEO of Epoch Software.

"Legal practice is at the precipice of reform, our technology makes legal
services accessible for all, and more convenient than ever before to
purchase."

Hilary Siddle, chairwoman of the Law Society's Family Law Committee,
believes that the service could be useful in some cases, but does not
represent good value for money.

"If you want to do your own divorce you can pick up forms for free from
the county court," she points out. There are then court fees of about
£150, and £30 for a decree absolute.

"People do not consult a lawyer for form filling, they go for advice,"
says Siddle. "I always advise people who are agreed on a divorce that
they can happily do it themselves. But for more tricky issues - like the
children and property - then they should not attempt to do the divorce
themselves."
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