Can a contested divorce case be kept in abeyance ?

One time settlement works this way only, not in any other way, usually, its 50 on date of application and rest 50 on second motion ie the final date.  Its 6 months time between dates.  It appears that your husband is having doubt that you wont turn up on second motion, hence he is willing to pay 25 percent initially and rest 75% on second motion.

All cases stand to be cancelled as you have agreed to get mutual consent divorce.  If the husband fails to pay the 75% on second motion, the mutual consent divorce petition, stands cancelled and if you want, you will have to file fresh divorce petition.  And also file maintenance plea subsequently, its like starting the circus all over again, A for apple, B for bat, C for cat... and so on.. However, in such case where husband fails to pay the rest of 75%on second motion, you can enjoy the 25% what you may have already received on first motion or first date.

Thank you sir.

Since I did not know this and the husband 's lawyer actually misled me by saying that the original petition will be kept aside in abeyance and I can contest the case if the MCD did not go through....That is why I agreed for 25/75.

In the mutual consent draft that the husband's lawyer has sent me, it says,

"The 1^st petitioner agrees and undertakes to withdraw the HMOP.No.XXX/XXXX pending on the file of the Hon’ble Addl. Family court Judge, Mumbai. There is no other similar petition pending before any other court."

why this has to be explicitly said by the husband if the original divorce petition will get automatically cancelled, once MCD will be filed ?

Jay.

The above settlement proposed by the husband is totally skewed against the wife.  The wife should not agree such language at any cost.  It should be drafted like this: "Both the parties agreed to mutual consent divorce.  The petitioner No.1 (husband) agrees to pay lumpsum amount of Rs....(X)............/- (in words also)  in total to the Petitioner No.2, in two equal instalments of Rs....(X/2)...........(in words).  The first instalment will be paid at the time of first motion before the hon'ble court and next instalment will be paid at the time of second motion before the hon'ble court.  In the intervening period of first motion and second motion, the husband, if advised so, can withdraw the divorce petition filed by him u/s..............of HMA.  During the intervening period of first motion and second motion, if the Petitioner No.1 withdraws his consent or  If in the second motion, the petitioner No.1 will not turn up or refuses to pay the second and last instament of Rs.                 , for whatever reason, the Petitioner No.2 is not only entitled to file contempt case against the Petitioner No.1, but also file civil suit for recovery of the said amount in addition to the other maintenance cases available to her under the law.  If the Petitioner No.2 does not turn up in the second motion to receive the remainder amount or withdraws her consent, the petitioner No.1 is entitled to file contempt case against Petitioner No.2 in addition to file recovery suit for the amount paid at the time of first motion and also is entitled to restore his divorce petition."

The last sentence has to be written in the agreement so that it becomes equitable and gets the nod of the husband and allays his fears that wife will backtrack. 

I have gone through these motions of settlement talks and I am advising based upon practical experience in this specific area and not as an advocate, which I am not. Your settlement agreement should be very simple and yet protect you from all different "what if" situations. It is not advisable to have specific "what if" situations but rather have broad language in the settlement. 

If you are entering into a settlement agreement, simply specify what you should get and in consideration for which, what it is that you are giving, like future claims on maintenance, right to residence, releases from other claims, etc.  Then comes the part of when you should get what you expect.  Finally, there should be a section on your rights if the other party fails to abide by his end of the deal.  This is where you should NOT list what you are entitled to do but rather say that you are free to pursue any and all legal remedies against the other party, rendering all obligations, considerations, expectations from you, entered into the settlement, null and void but without any adverse impact to any of your rights under the agreement. By expressly specifying what you are entitled to, if the husband fails to live with his end of the deal, you are limiting your options.

In Indian Law, there is the Specific Relief Act and there is the Indian Contract Act. Indian Contract Act defines what it is that you can put in an agreement and Specific Relief Act is one to enforce what has been agreed upon.  Therefore, the law provides for relief if one party fails to abide by his/her end of the deal anyway.  However, expressly specifying it just gives an additional comfort level. Absence of the same would not be fatal to your case anyway. You still will be able to pursue ALL remedies available if the husband fails to abide by his end of the deal.

You need to be very careful before signing on anything that is provided to you as an intermediate step towards settlement. Thats a trick to get you into something binding and move you away from litigation. It is advisable to have just one settlement document that defines all terms and conditions clearly.  Otherwise, you will have a litigation on the main subject (divorce, maintenance, etc.) and another litigation on the supposedly signed intermediate agreement.

Hope this helps!

I absolutely agree with the above reply.

This is a case of my brother :

1. Husband filed divorce case on ground of cruelty by  wife (like hitting , injuring on not listening to wife etc ) in 2010.

2. Wife goes to the current employer of husband and writes that the husband does not give her money and that she does not have anything to eat. forced the private sector company asks the husband to resign.

3. husband is jobless for 8-9 months.

4. wife file for maintenance. injunction on the home

5. home bought by husband on loan frm bank becomes NPA.

6. Husband has no job lives with parents

7. husbands now gets a job .

8. Lawyers try  for divorce by mutual consent. wife agrees says husband has to give 90% of the amount on filing of mutual concent and 10% later. Somehow the husbands agrees to it but now wife says she will see . she will sign whenever she feels like. Then suddenly one day she says no... she is not interested.

9. after around 9 months again the talk starts and again after committing the amount and everything wife backs off.... this has been going on for quite some time.

10. All this is affecting husband emotionally and financially as well as in work as well....

What can husband do to get the divorce.

how long can a divorce case stretch in india, its already more than 4 yrs.....

can anything be done if wife is manipulative, unco-operative, laughs on face and says do watever u want to laws in india are made for women......

please reply

@Mitali, Please post your question as a separate post.....Your question is unrelated to my case.

Posting your question separately would get right answers and also prevent misleading experts about my question.

Thank you.

@Mitali: There is a myth in India that laws favour women.  It is not so.  And certain sections propagate such idea for vested interests.  As your divorce case is pending in the court, take steps to expedite it irrespective of the talks going on for MCD.  In the court, never takes a date on the ground there is possibility of settlement or MCD.  Take necessary steps to give your evidence and to get evidence of respondent and for final argument.  As you, yourself is apprehensive of the result of divorce petition, appear to take adjournments to finish the case by MCD.  Your wife knows your this weakness and is playing accordingly.