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Maintenance and Alimony
Explore the legal framework of maintenance and alimony, covering financial support obligations during and after marriage dissolution. Understand how courts determine eligibility and amounts, protecting the rights of spouses with focus on fairness, income, and living standards under Indian family law.
Delhi High Court: EMIs, Personal Loans, and Insurance Premiums Cannot Justify Maintenance Evasion Under Section 24 Hindu Marriage Act
An appeal was filed under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, 1984 by the appellant-husband assailing the order dated 19-04-2025 passed by the Family Court, allowing an application filed by the respondent-wife under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, directing the appellant to pay a monthly maintenance of ₹15,000 split as ₹8,000 for the respondent-wife and ₹7,000 for their minor son. A division bench of Navin Chawla and Renu Bhatnagar, JJ., held that the findings of
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Delhi High Court: Granting Interim Maintenance to Qualified Unemployed Wife Does Not Promote Idleness
In the present case, a revision petition was filed under Section 438 read with Section 442 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (‘BNSS’) and Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘CrPC’) by the petitioner-husband. He challenged the order dated 9-5-2025 of the Family Court, New Delhi (‘the Trial Court’), which granted ad-interim maintenance of Rs 1,00,000/- per month to the respondent-wife. A Single Judge Bench of Neena Bansal Krishna, J., observed tha
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Calcutta High Court: Maintenance Is a Tool to Preserve Lifestyle, Not Just Subsistence
Calcutta High Court in two revision applications filed by the husband and the wife, assailing the order dated 30-12-2023, wherein the Judicial Magistrate reduced the quantum of maintenance granted to the wife from Rs. 30,000 per month to Rs. 20,000 per month, the Single Judge Bench of Bibhas Ranjan De, J, through a common judgement, held that maintenance is not merely a handout for subsistence but rather a tool to maintain lifestyle. The Court further directed the husband to
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Madras High Court Denies Interim Maintenance to Affluent Wife with Substantial Income
In a Civil Revision Petition initiated by the petitioner-husband, challenging an order of the Family Court, which had directed payment of interim maintenance to his “affluent” respondent-wife and minor son under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (‘HMA’), a Single Judge Bench of P. B. Balaji, J., while partly allowing the revision, held that the wife did not require any further amounts by way of interim maintenance to lead a comfortable lifestyle. The husband had alle
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Permanent Alimony Inflation Adjustments: Supreme Court Raises Alimony to ₹50,000
In a landmark 2025 judgment in the case of Rakhi Sadhukhan v. Raja Sadhukhan , the Supreme Court of India significantly increased the permanent alimony awarded to a divorced wife from ₹20,000 to ₹50,000 per month, with a 5% annual increment to account for inflation and ensure the recipient’s standard of living. While considering an appeal wherein a woman challenged the quantum of permanent alimony of Rs. 20,000 fixed by Calcutta High Court, the Division Bench of Vikram Nath*
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Right to maintenance under CrPC cannot be waived
A Kerala High Court judgment established that a wife's statutory right to maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) cannot be waived in a private agreement, even if she agrees to waive it in a mutual consent divorce. She can still claim maintenance later if she is unable to support herself. In an appeal filed against the order rejecting an application for maintenance by the wife and minor child (the appellants) against the husband, the Divisio
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