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Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

lawgazette.co.uk

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Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#21

Post by gizmo686 »

shubb wrote: post #17
Ekaros wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So only issue really was that wife's filing went active earlier than she would have wanted... And husband sensibly decide just to take the opportunity...

No, it sounds like her lawyer essentially agreed to an unfavourable divorce settlement that was still being negotiated. She may have lost out anything from custody of her children to millions of dollars.

I don't know about UK law, but my understanding of the law around here is:

For custody issues, absent extreme circumstances, custody cases don't end until at least the child turns 18. Getting an unfavorable settlement here is a problem, but likely isn't unrecoverable. Typically a judge won't modify a custody arrangement without a change of circumstance; but they do have considerable discretion.

For the financial issues; this is what lawsuits are for. If her law firm does not make her whole on their own, she should hire a legal malpractice attorney who will probably be able to convince them.

Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#22

Post by byset »

nobodyandproud wrote: post #10

> Vardag said the mistake happened after the wrong name was clicked on from a drop-down menu on the divorce portal. She claimed that court staff had admitted this had happened a few times and that it felt like a design flaw. I don’t know enough, but it looks like software engineers will be blamed in short order. Good luck!

Or the UX designer… or the lack of a UX designer

Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#23

Post by BizarroLand »

meepmorp wrote: post #14
RecycledEle wrote: post #6

They lawyer has not even agreed to fix their error. This is another reason society is better off without the people who become lawyers.

> They lawyer has not even agreed to fix their error. How do you suggest the lawyer fix their error?

My guess is that a lawsuit would follow and whomever messed up would be on the hook for any losses between what the final divorce settlement was and what it most likely would have been had it been properly negotiated, plus any emotional damages coming from misapplied parenting rights agreements and the like.

Given that they were using online lawyers, likely that is not very much.

If this was in America, depending on the couple's total wealth and circumstances it could run into the several hundred thousand / low millions.

I don't know the laws in the UK or how that would play out there though.

Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#24

Post by taejo »

meepmorp wrote: post #14
RecycledEle wrote: post #6

They lawyer has not even agreed to fix their error. This is another reason society is better off without the people who become lawyers.

> They lawyer has not even agreed to fix their error. How do you suggest the lawyer fix their error?

England and Wales allow unilateral divorce, and at least the husband wanted to divorce, so even without this mistake the result would be divorce. The mistake must be in the details of the settlement, so there's a good chance it's a material cost that the lawyer who made the mistake or their firm can compensate for monetarily

Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#25

Post by tomatocracy »

taejo wrote: post #24
meepmorp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They lawyer has not even agreed to fix their error. How do you suggest the lawyer fix their error?

England and Wales allow unilateral divorce, and at least the husband wanted to divorce, so even without this mistake the result would be divorce. The mistake must be in the details of the settlement, so there's a good chance it's a material cost that the lawyer who made the mistake or their firm can compensate for monetarily

Financial orders are separate from the granting of the divorce itself in England and Wales and the two can be done in (sort of) either order, confusingly.

It's usually thought of to be in the interest of one (or both) parties not to finalise the divorce until a financial order is made (eg if one party dies in the period between then the other may never get assets they would have done in a financial order; or there may be tax consequences if assets end up with the wrong party for a period). In this instance it seems like this disadvantaged the former wife because she ended up divorced without a financial order in place.

Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#27

Post by [deleted] »

danielvf wrote: post #11

You can see the UI for UK's divorce lawyers in this training document[1] pdf. It's not actually that bad, but the payment flow only shows case numbers, not names. ---- However, the headline for this article is a bit misleading. It sounds like the lawyers just divorced a random married couple, and the judge refused to undo it. But if you go through the article, and put together the clues like a game of Dog Crimes, you…

[deleted]

Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#28

Post by alistairSH »

SpaghettiCthulu wrote: post #8
flosstop wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the lawyers who were at fault went to court to try and have the judgement set aside but it was the judge that refused

Then the lawyer is at fault and should be forced to cover any damages resulting from this error to their client.

Yes, that's what the court eventually ruled.

Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#29

Post by wvenable »

mewpmewp2 wrote: post #5

I don't understand, aren't signatures from parties involved required for this?

A signature is merely evidence. It's neither sufficient or necessary for agreements. It just happens to be very strong evidence so we tend to think of it as the absolute sign of agreement but legally that isn't the case.

Re: Lawyer divorces wrong couple through dropdown selection error

#30

Post by talldatethrow »

shubb wrote: post #17
Ekaros wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So only issue really was that wife's filing went active earlier than she would have wanted... And husband sensibly decide just to take the opportunity...

No, it sounds like her lawyer essentially agreed to an unfavourable divorce settlement that was still being negotiated. She may have lost out anything from custody of her children to millions of dollars.

If your lawyer makes a mistake, sue them I suppose. But we can't have people arguing "oops!" and unwinding settled court deals easily can we?
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