Litigation & Drafting
Divorce Lawyer
Handling the legal end of a marriage requires careful guidance and clear representation. We act for individuals through mutual consent and contested proceedings, and through the maintenance, custody and property questions that usually decide how difficult either becomes.
The ground
What you are actually dealing with
Which law applies?
Divorce in India is governed by personal law: the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs; the Indian Divorce Act, 1869 for Christians; the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936; the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939; and the Special Marriage Act, 1954 for civil and inter-faith marriages. The grounds, the waiting periods and the procedure differ between them, and the applicable statute is settled at the outset.
Mutual consent versus contested
A mutual consent petition requires both parties to agree that the marriage has broken down and to have lived apart for the statutory period, and it proceeds in two motions with a cooling-off period between them, which the Supreme Court has held can be waived in appropriate cases. A contested petition requires a ground to be pleaded and proved: cruelty, desertion, adultery, conversion, mental disorder or the others in the applicable statute, and takes considerably longer.
The divorce is rarely the hard part
What is actually contested is maintenance and alimony, custody and access, and division of what the parties hold. Those questions can be settled by agreement in a mutual consent petition, or fought separately alongside a contested one. Settling them well is what makes the difference between a matter that ends and one that returns.
Our part
How we act in these matters
Clearly, discreetly, and with the client told what is realistic. Most matters that begin as contested end in a negotiated settlement, and the ones that do not are decided on documents and conduct.
- 01
The route chosen on the facts, not on which is quicker to start.
- 02
Financial disclosure prepared properly, because maintenance turns on evidence of means.
- 03
Custody approached from the child's position, which is also the position the court takes.
- 04
Settlement terms drafted to be enforceable, so the agreement does not become the next dispute.
Scope
What this engagement covers
- Mutual consent divorce, first and second motion
- Contested divorce on statutory grounds
- Judicial separation and restitution of conjugal rights
- Interim and permanent maintenance and alimony
- Custody, access and guardianship
- Settlement agreements and their execution
- Transfer petitions and appeals
How it runs
The process, stage by stage
No stage carries a promised date. The Registry's queue and the court's list are not ours to commit on your behalf. What we commit to is doing our part of each stage without delay.
- 01
Advise
The applicable statute, the available grounds and the realistic outcome on maintenance and custody are explained before anything is filed.
- 02
Choose the route
Mutual consent where agreement is achievable, contested where it is not, with the consequences of each set out.
- 03
Secure the interim position
Interim maintenance, residence and custody arrangements sought early, since they tend to set the pattern.
- 04
Negotiate
Settlement on maintenance, custody and property pursued in parallel, and reduced to enforceable terms.
- 05
Conclude
Decree obtained, and the settlement executed and enforced where compliance falls away.
Where you are
Divorce services in detail
Each of these is a page of its own, because the answer changes with where you are filing and what you are filing about.
Common questions
Questions we are asked most often
Not always. It can be waived where the parties have already lived apart for the statutory period, the settlement is genuine and complete, and there is no prospect of reconciliation. It is applied for, not assumed.
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