A leading family law firm inadvertently acquired a final divorce order for a client due to what was described as “clicking the wrong button”.
Vardags’ subsequent application to set aside the order on the basis that it had been made without its clients actual consent, was rejected by president of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane.
The parties in the case separated in January 2023 after a marriage of more than 21 years. Whilst the wife could have applied for a final order of divorce from 21 September 2023, she had not in fact given consent to do so, the High Court heard.
Vardags argued that an unnamed member of staff had accidentally opened the case file for ‘Williams v Williams’, intending to open another file, and applied for a final order in error. Having spotted the mistake two days later, the firm applied to rescind the order.
