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Rhea   22 June 2015

Unregistered marriage dissolvment

Hi there,

I got married in a small traditional 'vidhi' in 4 people's presence and a maharaj.  The maharaj took all our signature's on some kind of form.  We have photographs taken too.  No other registrations have been made.  Now, I wish to dissolve this marriage.  My query is:  1.  I have number of propoerties and assets in my name of which my spouse is aware of.  However, they are all in joint names either with my sibling or parent.  Can my spouse lay claim on any of these?  2. We will try and go for mutual seperation.  What is the procedure for this?  I stay in Mumbai.  Please guide.  

 



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 14 Replies

Adv. Chandrasekhar (Advocate)     22 June 2015

You both sit together and decide the terms of mutual consent divorce and reduce it on the paper.  Only the terms of agreement in writing will be prevailing after divorce, and your inheritance rights in the property will not be effected.

Rhea   22 June 2015

Thank you for your reply sir.  

However, if my spouse does not agree for mutual consent, what are the chances he can lay claim on my asssets and properties?  How legal would that be?  considering marriage is not registered.  

 

saravanan s (legal advisor)     22 June 2015

you need to file contested divorce on some grounds if she is not agreeing for mcd.she cant lay any claim over the your self earned or ancestral properties

Samir N (General Queries) (Business)     22 June 2015

Interesting question because most, if not all, questions related to properties involve the husband getting scared of losing his properties. The answer, however, is the same.  It appears from your brief post that the properties were purchased by you from your own monies or belonged to you or were inherited by you, prior to the marriage.  Whatever the case may be, what is relevant is that your husband did not contribute any monies towards the purchase of these properties. If that is the case, you have absolutely nothing to worry about your properties. 


Some advocates and/or non-advocate smart asses like me -:) may ask you to transfer the properties to your family members or sell them. Do not do so.  That will create more problems in the future or incur unneeded losses. 


Your spouse may be misguided by his advocate to not go in for a mutual consent divorce by misinforming him that he may be entitled to some share in your properties. This misguidance will drag your case for a long time - precisely what all advocates want. Or your spouse may be upset, for whatever reason, and will simply not agree to a mutual consent divorce. If so, be ready for a long drawn-out battle.


Obvious advice: If you can afford it, which appears to be the case, just waive your right to maintenance and see if he is willing to consent to divorce. Give a deadline saying that the offer is valid until so and so date. Do not put this offer in writing under any condition and if they are willing to accept it, ask them to draft the agreement with this condition. This approach appears to be your best and safest way to get a win-win outcome, whatever the reason for your change of heart may be - to seek a divorce.


Mutual consent agreements have to be drafted very meticulously and intelligently to avoid future hassles... thats a whole different topic.


 

 

 

 

 

1 Like

Rhea   24 June 2015

Thank you Samir.

Yes,  the proporties in question are all bought/owned by my father and are my inheitance.  Plus they are jointly owned by my mother and sibling.

I am not interested in maintenace as my spouse has no stable income.  I want to safeguard my properties as he has absolutely no right over them.  The cause for divorce is involvement of another person in his life, but difficult for me to prove this.  I am simply not interested in long drawn battles, 

I also want to now if he can re marry now if this marriage is unregistered?

Samir N (General Queries) (Business)     24 June 2015

With the disclaimer that I am not an advocate, it is my firm belief that a formal registration is not required for a marriage to be valid in the eyes of the law if the required religious formalities were fulfilled and there were witnesses. However, that may be religion-specific and my understanding is based upon Hindu marriages.  The use of the word "vidhi" by you implies a Hindu marriage so, yes, your marriage is legal. He cannot remarry without a court-approved divorce and any marriage before that would be committing bigamy.  I think that your best bet is the "maintenance" issue. Though not important to you, it will certainly be a concern to him. So, do not waste that card.


I think that both of you are interested in a divorce and you are not interested in maintenance so this appears to be a text-book example of a mutual consent divorce.  Now that you both want to separate, you should let him go with whoever he wants and you should do the same for yourself.  Two factors usually screw up the possibility of a mutual consent divorce: Emotions and advocates. Be careful on both fronts. 


Do not lose focus on your objective: To get divorce. Therefore, if a mutual consent divorce cannot be arrived at, do not get impatient. Let him get remarried. That will enable you to get divorce easily. He can then contend that he was not married to you in the first place. If so, that is also a good outcome for you - A void marriage - better than divorce. If he accepts the marriage, divorce given the facts of his second marriage would be easy... So, be patient, plan and act according to your plan only...

 

 

1 Like

Rhea   29 June 2015

Thank you Samir for the reply.  I have one more query.  As I have mentioned, the marriage was done in a traditional hindu vidhi.  No registration has been done.  However, the Maharaj took our signatures on a form ( even the witnesses).  My spouse hs got my other documents the maharaj had asked for registering the marriage.  Can my spouse still go ahead and register the marriage on his own?  Will I not be needed to personally go and sign?

If he can register the marriage,  can he now stake a claim on my assets and properties by this legality?

What should I do to safeguard myself?  I am not too keen on instigating this thing myself.  

Samir N (General Queries) (Business)     29 June 2015

My previous answers have addressed your concerns. Repeated again...


Whether your husband registers the marriage or not is inconsequential. You are legally married either way. In your matrimonial legal battles, you need to focus on only those actions which have legal implications. 
As for your properies, as your husband did not contribute to the purchase and they are registered only on your name, he CANNOT stake a claim to your properties under any circumstances whatsoever, including but not limited to whether you were married to him, only had a live-in relationship with him, divorced him, remarried him, had kids with him... - Hope you get the point.  Therefore, you have nothing to do to safeguard yourself with respect to your properties. IN YOUR CASE INACTION WOULD BE THE BEST ACTION - Thats where patience as a virtue helps.  If you take some unneeded actions, they may have adverse ramifications for you. So, be patient...  


I think that you are unnecessarily paranoid or your advocates are misguiding you. Relax... your properties are safe. Be happy! Enjoy life!!!

1 Like

Samir N (General Queries) (Business)     04 July 2015

In theory yes, he can claim maintenance from his wife. In practice, it is difficult for a husband to seek maintenance from his wife unless there is a huge income discrepancy to the detriment of the husband. To be perfectly honest, I am not familiar with the legal aspect involved when a husband seeks maintenance from his wife.

Rhea   07 July 2015

OhhMy! Is it that he claim maintenance?  His income is very substantial, minimal.  Whereas I am having partnership in business ( like sleeping partner) but as I mentioned, I do have assets in my name.  Ca he still claim?

Also, I got married on 27th May.  We stayed together for a week or so.  SInce June 9th he went to stay back with his parents.  Till now no action has been initiated by either of us.  But he has conveyed that he doesnot want to resolve.  Till how long can this be status quo maintained?  Even I am not interested in insitigating anything.( I am still being positive .)  In short, I want to know what step can he take legally which will affect me? 

N R Dash.. (Advocate)     07 July 2015

He can not claim the assets, but yes there are provisions in law for the maintenance of the husband. He can claim maintenance from you.

Rhea   11 July 2015

Please reply to this query.  

I got married on 27th May.  We stayed together for a week or so.  Since June 9th he went to stay back with his parents.  Till now no action has been initiated by either of us.  But he has conveyed that he doesnot want to resolve.  Till how long can this status quo be maintained?  Even I am not interested in insitigating anything.( I am still being positive .)  In short, I want to know what step can he take legally which will affect me if I am not taking any step?

Rhea   14 July 2015

I got the thing for maintenance.  However, the other part is still not replied to.  Please can sumone throw light on the below.

I got married on 27th May.  We stayed together for a week or so.  Since June 9th he went to stay back with his parents.  Till now no action has been initiated by either of us.  But he has conveyed that he doesnot want to resolve.  Till how long can this status quo be maintained?  Even I am not interested in insitigating anything.( I am still being positive .)  In short, I want to know what step can he take legally which will affect me if I am not taking any step?

Samir N (General Queries) (Business)     14 July 2015

The marriage is fresh. No steps are taken by either side on the legal front. Status quo will continue until one of you approaches the Court seeking RCR (Restoration of Conjugal Rights) now or Divorce in the future or Maintenance. Hopefully, the two of you will work your differences or file a MCD (Mutual Consent Divorce) avoiding a bitter legal fight, police complaints, etc. that only benefit advocates. 


If you go to an advocate now, the advocate will convince you to file a DV case, police complaints, etc. so that his meter can start. That will aggravate the situation and close all doors for a settlement. More cases will follow - more monies for advocates. DV will give you no relief that any purely Civil case can - When you absolutely must file a case. For now and in the future, think of how to solve the problem without legal confrontations.


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