Go online for DIY divorce

A NEW “DIY” divorce form designed to speed up the process could lead to thousands more people being accused of adultery, lawyers have warned.

The online form, introduced on Monday, includes a section for a petitioner to fill in the details of “the person your partner committed adultery with”.

Anyone named on the form becomes party to the case, leading to the possibility that many more people could receive documents telling them they have been accused of adultery. Applicants do not have to name the person but experts are concerned that many more could fill in the section either through misunderstanding or deliberately to get back at their former partner.

Nigel Shepherd, chairman of the family law group Resolution, said clients sometimes had to be “talked out of ” naming their partner’s new girlfriend or boyfriend. “Sometimes people say ‘I’d like to name her – it’s her fault, or his fault’,” he said.

According to the most recent figures adultery was cited as the reason in 12,148 divorce cases in 2015.