pep 15 January 2016

spousal maintainance

I am a British Citizen, engineer working in Australia and an OCI holder (Overseas citizen of India)

Spouse: Indian Citizen and a bank employee earning only Rs 10000 per month, used to work in India but havent done so after 1 year of marriage

Marriage in Mumbai 2 1/2 years ago

We lived in my mothers house for 1 week after marriage then I came off to Australia

Spouse again visited my mum's house in Tamil Nadu and stayed for 1 month in 2014

Spouse arrived in Australia in December 2014 and got Permanent Residency

Son: Australian citizen 4 months old (Also OCI-Overseas citizen of India)

Spouse has been always fighting with me, giving me stress both while in India and after arriving here, fights 5 out of 7 days which is affecting my work etc.

I have taken many pictures of the way she leaves the house in a mess, the way she fights with me on Whats app and Viber (I have saved quite a few screenshots of these) and even videos from security cameras that I installed inside the house, I also have some audio files of her confessions and fights

She went to the neighbour and made a few allegations against me resulting in police visits and social services

She also consulted lawyers here which I saw from a letter that was lying around the house

She puts different signatures (on passport and on other legal documents) and due to her fighting nature, forgetfulness, lack of insight, poor understanding, unkempt appearance etc. I took her to a psychiatrist who said she may have some possible (Psychotic illness, Personality disorder and Low IQ) these were provisional diagnoses but the psychiatrist said he could give his documentation. She wouldn't go back to see the psychiatrist since her family dissuaded her

After months of torture, she finally departed for a visit to India with my child in December 2015

What are my options? Can I file for divorce in India? Will I have to pay her a lot? Will I get main custody of my child? Thanks

Please recommend a lawyer in Tamil Nadu

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2 Replies

Vijay Raj Mahajan (Advocate) 15 January 2016

The divorce proceedings in India will be tedious, time consuming and may not result in actual divorce the way the courts in India go in favor of wives with small kids.

Moreso you are not Indian citizen nor domiciled in India so the Hindu Marriage Act,1955 will not apply to you and if you got married according to Hindu form of marriage and registered your marriage not under the Special Marriage Act,1954 the divorce or any proceedings under the Hindu Marriage Act,1955 in India can always be challenged as the Act of 1955 does not apply to you.

The child custody in India is usually allowed to mother and father gets visitation rights. The maintenance for wife and child is responsibility of the husband/father and based on his income/expenditure that amount get fixed. Wife will not be allowed maintenance if she has means to maintain herself but for minor child of less than 18 years the father is supposed to legally provide.

As far searching lawyer in Chennai, I have a friend there as well I move around various courts in various states in India like Kolkata, Bangalore, Chandigarh, U.P. etc. for court cases provided my professional fee etc is paid by my client.

For pre-paid legal consultancy/case discussion in details you can always directly email me.

vijaymahajan5758@gmail.com

vijay_mahajan5758@yahoo.co.in

pep 15 January 2016

Thanks for ur response. The marriage was also done in a church so will it be different to a Hindu marriage act? I don't mind the length of divorce being long so that the spouse's family will negotiate for a mutual settlement and I can dispose off my property, work fewer hours and hopefully make the amount a bit less? Is this all possible? If she moves to Australia (since she has permanent residency) will she claim child support from here too? Thanks