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Ravi (a)     23 December 2014

Property

hi,

in the midst of Divorce, 498a, DV cases, can we sell off properties? so that it wont be claimed by wife ever?

is it a good thing to do? is it going to affect court cases? Please share your expert opinion.



Learning

 4 Replies

jack (nothing)     23 December 2014

Hi gangadhar,can you plz answer here so that it will help for others also.

harrassed (SE)     23 December 2014

Ravi, If it is self acquired property there won't be any issues in selling them. If it is jointly owned by your wife of course, you need her consent for the same. Remember that if she wants to stay in matrimonial house she has rights to do so till the legal divorce is ordered. In the interim if you plan to sell off the property which is the matrimonial home she might get the stay on it. You need to fight against that stating that you need to sell off the property for a,b,c reasons. Good luck.

Samir N (General Queries) (Business)     23 December 2014

It is the most ridiculous advice that any advocate can give a husband: To sell properties to protect them from wives or soon to be ex-wives.  There is no law that gives properties to wives in any dispute whatsoever. By selling your properties or transferring them through gift deeds, you irreversibly alienate these assets and thereby create a third-front to fight yet another battle in the future to recover them.  Any wife can, at most, get maintenance and right-to-residence in some property owned or rented by you or in which she and you once shared a household.  Such right-to-residence is precisely that... a right to reside in some such property but not transfer of title to her name. 


Even if there had been such a law that gave wives shares in properties, which there currently is not, even then any such transfer would be termed as a fraudulent transfer to avoid creditor rights because the wife would be deemed to be a creditor and such transfers would be reversible or at least preserve the right of the wife, if she had any.


The Transfer of Property Act has some section which covers about transfer of title of properties under litigation. The law as set by Supreme Court decisions state that if title to immovable properties under dispute is transferred during litigation then the rights of the parties in the litigation are protected notwithstanding the transfer of title. What that means is that let us say that Wife has a right and Husband sells the property during the litigation. Well, then the wife will have her rights preserved in the property and can assert her rights even after the sale deed is registered, in the event she prevails in the litigation.


The above discussion is moot because wives DO NOT have any right to title in any property. Of course, if the property stands on the name of the wife or if it can be proved that the wife contributed financially to the purchase of the property, then the above discussion does not hold true because the wife will have a direct or indirect right to the title of the property and can claim the same through civil litigation in a Family Court.


If husband defaults in payment of maintenance, then the Court can attach some of his assets. including immovable properties or income derived from the properties.  From attachment to the Court ordering the actual sale of the property to satisfy maintenance obligations is a long process. Therefore, to transfer or sell properties to avoid this limited exposure is outright idiotic.


Disclaimer: I am not an advocate but welcome any comments from advocates which contradict my observations. Would be useful to others as this is a common concern among husbands.

Ravi (a)     24 December 2014

thank you all for your replies.

i acquired the matrimonial home out of my own pocket and i am the sole onwer of the house, which is still under bank loan. can i sell this off? my wife in DVC case is asking separate residence as relief including myself to stay out of her surrondings. 

also, how to stop my wife from entering my house (above one) during the pendency of litigation. i heard about injuction but not having much knowledge, where to file it like DVC or in divorce or separate suit. Please help me understand more.

 

i have another loaned property acquired by me soley, can i sell this off now? Please share your experiences where people sold off their properties during the ongoing litigation cases.


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