In the recent case of Randhawa v Randhawa, Mr Randhawa was found to have forged his wife’s signature on the acknowledgement of service in 2010, meaning that for the last 12 years she was completely unaware that divorce proceedings had even started.

The case is a good example for Watford couples to see where fraud can occur.

The court found that Mr Randhawa had a vested interest to be divorced from Mrs Randhawa without any obstacles as he wished to marry his new partner.

It meant Mrs Randhawa did not have the opportunity to issue financial remedy proceedings for a share of the matrimonial assets at that time. To issue financial remedy proceedings, spouses must have also submitted a divorce petition to the court.

The divorce was annulled by the Judge for forgery.

Divorce petitions are now completed online on the HMCTS portal. Some practitioners have warned that fraud could perhaps become even more prevalent with the online system. A respondent is sent a letter by email, that can be downloaded by both them and the applicant. Any attempt at fraud would be illegal and the applicant could be fined or imprisoned for contempt of court.

However, with the arrival of the new ‘no fault divorce regime’, the respondent will no longer have the opportunity to defend the divorce petition. There may therefore be less of an incentive to commit fraud or forgery to seek to proceed in a divorce without notifying the respondent.