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Amit (NA)     09 November 2010

Interim Maintenance

In 2005, my wife was awarded 10000 as alimony pendente lite and my salary was around 45000 at that time. Wife has now submitted petition for enhancement in alimony pendente lite as per latest salary. Now over the years my salary has doubled. Will her alimony also be doubled? As far as I know, it is said that alimony should be awarded as per the standard wife was used to during her stay in the matrimonial house. Going by this logic, my wife was used to a standard of life where I was earning 45000 and hence awarded 10000. Now if my standard in life has increased (which she is neither used to nor has she contributed to) why should her alimony be increased? Will this not amount to unjust enrichment of one spouse at the cost of the other? In spite of being well educated and having 4 years job experience prior to and after marriage, she purposefully remains unemployed to extract more alimony for self and family. How should I contest this? Seek the views of learned members. 



Learning

 4 Replies

Amit (NA)     11 November 2010

Any views on this please?

Avnish Kaur (Consultant)     11 November 2010

dont u pay tax , first of all deduct income tax & compulsory epf, then ur necessary expenses like house loans , dependents (parents, children ) etc.then go to a good lawyer. also find proofs if she is working . please clarify is it under section 24?

Renuka Gupta ( Gender Researcher )     11 November 2010

Very interesting!

If one journeys from Rags to riches and wife stands by him at the time of hardships and struggles, supporting him materially, and emotionally, and when husband starts climbing up the ladder, and decides that he does not want to share the prosperity with wife and hence decides to say quits, how the living standards would be calculated? Wife may have lived from Rs Nil ( selling her jewels to make both ends meet0 -- 2500  4000--9000--12000---15000--20000-25000-30000 and say now husband's salary is 1.6 lakh per month, can it be established that since wife has managed for Rs 2500 and so on and so forth, the maintenance should not be in consonance with the increase in salary of the husband. 

Let us for the time being assume that all facts written here are true, and let us not dilute this by saying such women belonged to the generations gone by, or that this is a false situation or that the woman in question is treating her husband as an ATM. 

I will be interesting in knowing different opinions without voicing my own. 

Amit (NA)     12 November 2010

Dear Renuka: I fully agree with you that when wife has stood by her husband in good and bad times over a period of time, she should not be deprived of alimony. In fact law also provides for an alimony in consonance with the standard of living she was "used to" when living with her husband. However I would draw your attention to my specific case (providing few more details here). The marriage lasted for 2 months after which she filed for divorce. I will not go into details of allegations and counters filed as my query is specifically on alimony and I understand, as per law, alimony does not depend on whose fault it is or what is the reason for divorce - it is based on status of parties, earnings, reasonable wants, etc. During her 2 month stay with me, my wife was well taken care of by me and did not have to sell her jewels. She was granted alimony as well as legal compensation to fight her case as per her living standard with me. Over the next 5 years, my salary has doubled. During this time her contribution has been filing false petitions and dragging the case. She or her lawyers fall sick during hearing dates, but she has never missed a single date to collect alimony. Although a post graduate, she has not tried to find work. In spite of the tension, through my hard work alone I have performed well and my salary has increased. What is then the justification for enhancement in alimony due to my enhanced status when wife has neither contributed towards it nor used to such a living standard? Isn't this unjust enrichment ? Your views please.

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