Rinku 05 February 2016

How to handle & stop interim maintenance

I am married since last 1 year. 4 month after the marriage, my wife left my house and went to stay with her parent stating reasons as harassment, torture, mental stress and all bullsh*t. 3 month after leaving my house, she registered  a case (section 307 ipc) against me and 498 against by parents in Mahila PS. When she left home, i tried to reach her through her parents & relative but her parents refused to talk and said she is away to delhi sometime bangalore in search of job as she is B.tech in Comp Sc & Engineering.

We however applied and received anticipatory bail from hon'ble high court for all the false allegation that she had done. Now she has filed DV Act against me and my parents followed by another case under Section 125 in family court asking for maintenance plus all litigation charges. I have not applied for divroce yet but i am thinking to do so in few weeks before the Case date which is next month.

So here, if i apply for divorce - then interim mainteance will be allowed which i need to pay.

I am not willing to go for interim maintenace and would prefer to go for one time settlement and divorce. So is there a way to stop interim maintenance incase if it is allowed.

Some points to note:

1. She is trying to tortue me and my family member by filling false allegation and mis-using the laws.
2. Year of marriage is 1 year. She is not staying with me since for(Appox 7+ month) from now.
3. My Wife qualification is B.tech in Computer Science and engineering. Currently she is sitting idle and does nothing but she is capable to find a job and earn.
4. We did tried to go for mutual settlement but they demand a huge amount of 20 Lakhs.

If monthly income is 40,000/- then how interim maintenance will be calculated. Does loans, medical expenses of my father (heart patient), my personal & household expenses be counted in the calculation. Would be helpful if someone explain how and on what basis the interim maintenance is calculated for a person income. Example like what are considered/counted - Loans, Parent Medical expenses, Taxes, Monthly Household expenses etc..

Lastly, what is the procedure to take stay order incase if interim maintenance is allowed ??

Kindly please help me..

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4 Replies

Sad Indian Legal System 06 February 2016

fight it hard. don't leave any stone unturned - once a maintenance is awarded will be a huge task to either bring it down or appeal.

once it goes for appeal the sword of some percentage upfront will be hanging. also gives bargaining chips to the opposite side liars.

jaig 16 February 2016

You will find plenty of judgements where maintenance denied to capable wife. (Mamta Jaiswal case, Indermeet Juneja case etc.). You ask in any forum, everybody knows capable wife doesn't deserve maintenance. In spite of that recently judges is allowing maintenance, or at least interim. You need to make a strong case, merely citing the relevant judgements won't help.

Based on what I understood seeing the judgements which went against these precedent judgements are :
[1] Was the wife working before - what salary ? how long was she out of job ? "Employability and Employment are not same" (It's not my word I'm citing a line from a judgement). You also need to convince beyond doubt that she can easily get job paying Rs. XXXXX/- based on her suitable job profiles.

[2] If her last salary was Rs. XXXXX/- p.m. if it way too small than your salary ? Judges tend to bring equality assuming in domesticity total salary was equally enjoyed by both.

I am also in similar situation, my wife is working, still I am prepared to bear interim maintenance - always be ready for the worst. I am not discouraging you, that's what I feel seeing the trend in most recent judgements. recently there has been cases where judge blindly granted interim ingoring the income of wife. Especially once it's granted it's hard to contest it in igher court, because the it defeats the fundamental meaning of the name "interim".

So I'd say it is hard to avoid interim maintenance, So dont have any strong mindset there, do fight it though as others suggested. rather try to accelerate the main preceedings (divorce etc). Also if your wife is not working, appeal court to instruct her to find a job in 1 year. Court should at least respect that.

jaig 16 February 2016

Also strongly argue your parents case, that your parents are your own liability, court cannot deny that. However your parents independent income might also be considered. IFAIK, the amount is 1/3 of take home income. Jude will leave 2 portions for your all expenses, and give 1/3 to her. If there is childen then even more.