Ravi (a) 25 February 2021

Maintenance order in mcd

dear lawyers and experts -

we are filing MCD where it is mentioned that the wife will cancel all maintenance orders (interim/final) and husband will withdraw pending divorce. Please let me know the following...

1. after successfull MCD, what will happen if wife doesnt withdraw the pending cases?

2. if MCD is rejected due to non availablility of wife during evidence, what happens to all maintenance orders ? will they become void?

3. how to protect myself to ensure mutual divorce steps work without hassles?

thank you in advance....

Reply Follow

1 Replies

Kevin Moses Paul 26 February 2021

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 originally, based divorce on the fault theory, and enshrined nine fault grounds in Section 13(1) on which either the husband or wife could sue for divorce, and two fault grounds in Section 13(2) on which wife alone could seek the divorce.

Any marriage solemnised, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, may, on a petition presented by either the husband or the wife, be dissolved by a decree of divorce on the following grounds :-

1.) that the other has, after the solemnization of the marriage, had voluntary s*xual intercourse with any person other than his or her spouse or

2.) has after the solemnization of the marriage, treated the petitioner with cruelty or

3.) has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition, or

4.) has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion or has been incurably of unsound mind, or

5.) has been suffering continuously or intermittently from mental disorder of such a kind and therefore, the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent.

However, in a case where none of the aforementioned grounds is available, but the parties decide they do not want to remain married to each other or can not live with one another they can seek divorce by mutual consent under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act.

Section 13(B) of the Act prescribes that in order to mutually dissolve a marriage, the spouses should be living separately for a period of at least 1 year before filing the petition.

1.) You should proceed to create an agreement stating the conditions upon which you and your wife has agreed to cancel the maintenance order and pending divorce respectively.
In case wife doesn't abide by the agreement, you may file for suit for voiding the contract.

2.) If MCD is rejected then there wouldn't be any maintenance orders at all.

3.) Create an agreement with wife and get it signed and attested by fulfilling all essential requirements to an agreement.