Couple mistakenly divorced after lawyer 'clicks wrong button'

LONDON (WKRC) - A couple mistakenly got divorced after a lawyer clicked a "wrong button."

According to PEOPLE, a couple was divorced by mistake due to an error made by solicitors at a London-based law firm. Per the outlet, solicitors at Vardags law firm filed a final order for the divorce of a former couple, known as Mr. and Mrs. Williams, after they "clicked the wrong button" in an online portal.

The lawyers, who intended to complete a divorce for another client, “inadvertently opened the electronic case file in ‘Williams v Williams’” by mistake, Judge Sir Andrew McFarlane said, according to The Guardian. which reported that the divorce was finalized 21 minutes later.

Per PEOPLE, Mr. and Mrs. Williams split back in 2023 following 21 years of marriage, but were still in the process of figuring out financial arrangements when the divorce was granted.

The firm realized the mistake two days later and applied to have the final divorce order repealed. The judge rejected the request, however, saying there was a "strong public policy interest" in "maintaining the status quo."

The judge stated that the solicitors should correct any impression that the firm's online divorce portal would “deliver a final order of divorce where one was not wanted simply by ‘the click of a wrong button’”.

Vardags, which is headed by the self-styled "diva of divorce," Ayesha Vardag, responded to the ruling saying the judge had made a "bad decision," adding that he had "decided, effectively, 'the computer says no, you're divorced."

“The state should not be divorcing people on the basis of a clerical error. There has to be intention on the part of the person divorcing, because the principle of intention underpins the justice of our legal system. When a mistake is brought to a court’s attention, and everyone accepts that a mistake has been made, it obviously has to be undone," Vardag said, according to PEOPLE.