Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that victims of domestic abuse are not required to bear additional financial or procedural burdens in order to progress divorce proceedings when the other party fails to engage.

It is a matter of concern that perpetrators of domestic abuse may fail to engage with divorce proceedings. The courts have powers to deal with parties who fail to engage, including to make orders confirming a perpetrator has received a divorce application when they have refused to acknowledge it. In September this year, the process of asking the court to make orders about sending applications became easier, when His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service extended the online application system for litigants-in-person.