Justdivorce.co.uk offers online divorce service
Justdivorce.co.uk has launched a sophisticated end-to-end, ‘Litigant in Person’, and fully online divorce service for consumers who wish to manage their own uncontested divorces.
However, compared to other online services, justdivorce.co.uk gives the consumer the added security of a fully qualified solicitor overseeing the entire process. The new online service fills a gap in the market for a fully regulated, fixed price service which is clearly more sophisticated than the current unregulated paralegal services that promote packaged divorce deals.
Justdivorce.co.uk takes a two pronged approach. It provides consumers with the background information they need to decide if an uncontested online divorce is right for their circumstances and explains the legal processes and paperwork required to obtain a divorce. It also leads the client through an easy-to-follow series of questions, the answers to which populate court forms and letters with all the appropriate information. These documents can be checked by the client, approved for submission by the solicitors’ caseworker, and downloaded anywhere in the world via the Internet before mailing to the appropriate court. Emails are sent to clients explaining exactly what documents are required at each stage of the process and what court fees will need to be paid at that time. Justdivorce.co.uk also offers complementary services such as financial clean break orders, divorce decree searches, and marriage certificate translations.
The new online service has been developed by Bryan Reed, an experienced Consultant solicitor at family law firm Josiah-Lake Gardiner LLP, who is a member of the Family Law Panel and the Resolution group of family lawyers. He explains that: “The first place that everyone turns to for information today is the Internet, so it makes absolute sense that certain legal services can be provided via the Internet too.
“We are confident that as one of only a handful of e-legal providers that are genuinely online, from the beginning of the process through to Decree Absolute, we will be able to remove the stress, worry and delay that can occur when someone takes the decision to manage their own divorce.
“We believe that we are giving our clients peace of mind when they need it most, filling the gap between ‘traditional solicitors’ handling divorce cases on an hourly rate and paralegals providing an unregulated service promoted by an online brochure site.
“The legal profession should embrace the opportunity presented by advances in technology to offer a new kind of commoditised, yet entirely secure, legal service. Enabling clients to manage their own simple undefended divorces online does not mean that advice will not be sought in more complex cases, nor that referrals will decrease. What it does mean is that consumers have a choice about how they access legal services and interact with the court system,” said Reed.