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 alleged that the wife was affluent and the Family Court had mechanically passed the order without considering the pleadings in the maintenance application. The High Court emphasised that it could not sustain the order of the Family Court awarding interim maintenance to the wife, which was wholly unnecessary considering the substantial income that had accrued to the respondent by way of dividends and her ownership of valuable immovable properties. [X v. Y, 2025 SCC OnLine Mad 5294, decided on 22-08-2025].