Alimony in India: Rights, misuse, and recent Supreme Court ruling on maintenance

Alimony is the financial support that a person is ordered by a Court to give to his/her spouse during separation or following divorce. In a divorce by mutual consent, the quantum of alimony is decided and agreed upon mutually by the spouses without the intervention of the Court. However, in a contested divorce matter, a Court may pass an order directing a person to pay alimony to the spouse who is claiming alimony. While under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, either the husband or the wife may claim alimony from the other, the Indian Divorce Act, 1869 and Special Marriage Act, 1954 only provide for the wife to seek alimony from the husband.


Finances have, unfortunately, often been misused as tools for exertion of power, dominance and manipulation in marriages. Sadly, finances are now being misused in divorces as well. It is very common to see a wife making exaggerated claims regarding the husband’s income and wealth and underplaying her capacity to earn in order to ask for massive amounts of money towards her alimony. On the other hand, it is also common for the husbands to withhold or delay in paying sustenance money to the wife in order to exert pressure. While alimony, in law, is intended to ensure that financially weaker spouse is protected and does not have to suffer post separation, the same provisions are now being misused by people to exert undue pressure on their spouses to force them to agree to their unreasonable demands. What was meant as a tool for protection is now being misused as a tool for extortion. The massive amount of alimony sought by the wives instil a sense of dread in the husbands, who are worried about their life savings being wiped out or severally depleted through such demands. While there are cases where a hefty alimony is warranted and deserved, in many other cases, the applicants for alimony have the capacity to earn and provide for themselves and do not require financial assistance of the husband or his family to support themselves. The growing fear regarding exaggerated claims of alimony is discouraging many people from pursuing marriage or making full disclosure regarding their incomes and assets to their spouses, which in turn leads to erosion of trust between the spouses, thereby beginning the end of their marriage. The vicious cycle continues, and the victim is the institution of marriage.

While the relevant sections under all matrimonial acts list down the necessary factors for the Courts to consider while deciding the amount of alimony, in a recent judgement of Rajnish Vs. Neha, the Supreme Court has again laid down detailed guidelines while fixing the amount of alimony/ maintenance and has insisted on disclosure of financial information of both the spouses. This has paved the way for more transparency regarding the financial capacity of spouses, thereby acting as a deterrent for exaggerated claims for alimony.


Authored by: Adv. Shaili Muzoomdar, (Matrimonial Lawyer)