Transfer of London divorces to 'Bury your marriage' hub delayed until late July 2015

The transfer of divorce cases from London to HMCTS' new hub at Bury St Edmunds has been delayed until late July 2015, according to a leading family law practitioner.

HMCTS has set an ambitious target of dealing with over 40 per cent of divorce work in England and Wales when the centre is fully operational. Initial estimates did have work planned for transfer from London in June, but this is now unlikely to occur.

Organised by the Law Society's family section, members of the judiciary and senior civil servants gave an update on changes to the divorce process at a meeting at Chancery Lane last week.

Chaired by Mena Ruparel, consultant solicitor at Shedden Family Law, the panel was comprised of Her Honour Judge Lynn Roberts, circuit judge with responsibility for the divorce centre, as well as HMCTS project leads John Miller, Emma Petty, and Paul Stewart. Also in attendance was Tony Roe, principal at Tony Roe Solicitors.

Roe, who made a series of freedom of information (FoI) requests of HMCTS, and whose research broke the news that Bury St Edmunds would be the single divorce centre for London and the South East, said that new guidance, 'Changes to the divorce process in England and Wales: Q & A', was extremely useful for all family law practitioners.

'We now know a little more detail of the timing of transfer of the rest of divorce work to Bury St Edmunds. Work in my local area, the Thames Valley, including Oxford, Reading, Milton Keynes, and Slough, will be transferred from the week commencing 29 June.

'In the Thames Valley, HMCTS says that, from 29 June, all divorce petitions and financial remedy applications should be sent by post to the divorce centre, Bury St Edmunds, with the exception of urgent applications that require issue at the counter. Local courts in the Thames Valley will continue to process applications issued prior to 29 June,' added Roe.

The guidance from HMCTS adds that the Bury St Edmunds divorce centre is the point of entry once work is transferred there, as much has been already, for London and the South East.

'If a hearing is required this can be listed at a local hearing centre and court users will have the opportunity to indicate where the hearing should take place, for example, at the same court as any Children Act application, more locally to where the parties reside, or at a more central location when the parties live in completely different areas. The petition is likely to be amended by the end of September with a box added to indicate the petitioner's preference of court if a hearing is necessary,' continued Roe.

'Transfer of work from London was planned for June but is not likely to occur until the week commencing 20 July,' said Roe. 'The intention is that the Central Family Court will concentrate on local and complex matters. I understand that the criteria for complexity are being finalised imminently and will be made available soon.'