Internet divorce is cheap if not cheerful

Do it yourself (DIY) quickie divorces over the Internet are now undertaken by six per cent of all unhappy couples in England and Wales and the figure is still rising.

The popularity of the Desktop Lawyer service, which was first introduced in July by British company, Epoch Software, is largely down to cost - only £59 compared to the hundreds of pounds typically charged by a solicitor.

The relative convenience of simply filling in a form online and and the speed of completion have also made it an attractive proposition.

Once a client has inserted the appropriate information and paid online using a credit card, the requisite legal documents can be downloaded and printed. These include a petitition form, an affadavit, and a letter to the judge.

Desktop Lawyer's divorce kit only works for couples who have agreed to an uncontested divorce, however, and is not suitable for cases where both parties disagree on whether or how the divorce should proceed.

The service also only applies to England and Wales as Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own legal systems, but the fact that Britain has the highest divorce rate in Europe, with nearly 150,000 couples separating last year, has no doubt contributed to the product's popularity.

But according to an online poll found on the Web site at www.desktoplawyer.net, 67 per cent of users, including casual visitors, do not believe that making it cheaper and easier to divorce encourages the practice.

Epoch claims that other run of the mill tasks commonly conducted by solicitors are also suitable for automation and the company also offers services such as DIY wills.