Generally speaking, the court's online divorce platform has been a positive development. However this report serves as a useful reminder that the platform is only as good as the programming it is given.  

For at least 50 years it has been the case that you could not apply for a divorce in the first year of marriage. It seems that for a brief period, the online platform was not programmed to reject applications made too early, meaning that some couples have completed their divorces, innocently unaware that there was any issue with them. 

Deciding what to do with these unfortunate couples, some of whom may have re-married believing they were free to do so, presents a problem for the family court.  

Last month the High Court refused to set aside a final divorce order when a solicitor accidentally applied via the platform on behalf of the wrong client.  Arguably in this scenario, the court never had jurisdiction to make orders in the premature divorce applications so this situation is different.  However, if the court refuses to correct errors made by solicitors (or by the parties themselves), can it take a different tack when the error is the court's?