Thousands of divorced couples in Britain could be forced to return to court to renegotiate the terms of their separation after it emerged that a government software glitch could have distorted the value of their assets.
Up to 20,000 couples involved in often complex divorce cases are thought to have used an online form which potentially over-inflated the value of their property by failing to subtract debts and other liabilities from the total figure.
The error comes as a huge embarrassment for the Ministry of Justice and went unnoticed by solicitors and court officials for 20 months.
It only came to light when a non-lawyer who advises couples facing legal processes noticed that her own clients were being given the wrong figure. She raised the alarm with the Ministry of Justice but said that even then it took a week for the error to be fixed.
The Ministry of Justice said it was now "urgently investigating" the blunder and seeking to estimate how many couples are affected.
