County Courts: Personal Records

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 11 January 2023.

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Photo of Steve McCabe Steve McCabe Labour, Birmingham, Selly Oak

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what safeguards his Department has in place within the County Court system to help ensure that the names of parties to court cases are accurately recorded and are updated if a person's name is changed, including following a divorce, during the course of court proceedings.

Photo of Mike Freer Mike Freer Assistant Whip, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice

It is the responsibility of the parties involved in court proceedings to ensure that the court is informed of the correct names of the parties, as well as any change of name during proceedings.

Most applications issued using the digital services of HMCTS automatically update the courts’ case management system with the names provided by the applicant. Whilst paper applications will usually require manual data entry by HMCTS, management checks are undertaken on sample of cases to ensure that case records accurately reflect the information provided on the application form.

In a divorce case further checks are also carried out at the decree nisi/conditional order and decree absolute/final order stage as a final check before the divorce is legally granted.

Throughout court proceedings any party can inform the court of a change of name or request a correction if an error has been made.

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