Divorce Procedure In India

The divorce procedure in India isn’t too complex, or complicated to understand. One of the most turbulent periods of an individual’s life is perhaps his/her divorce. It makes you see facets of your life – which you thought invisible. The first step towards separation is being sure of terminating your relationship. Once both the spouses are certain, you should start filing for it.

As distressing as it is to go through with this often stretched taxing process emotionally, the Indian judicial system makes it worse. It can take a few months to a few years. It should be duly noted that, since the Indian laws are intricate and complicated, the whole procedure needs to be done methodically. The following steps have been suggested for your benefit:

Hiring A Lawyer

In the long process of a court separation, the very first step involves the hiring a good legal advisor.  Keeping in mind the complications of your case, you should hire an attorney accordingly. His experience, cases won, and area of expertise, all should be verified. During the process of hiring a lawyer, the fee and other details should be discussed in the initial meeting itself. It is also advisable, if a retainer agreement is drawn up around the same time.

Procedure

There are two types of divorces in India – uncontested (mutual) and contested. The Uncontested type involves a mutual agreement amongst the couple – to part ways in a systematic and amicable manner.

On the other hand, in a contested separation, you can appeal for the marriage to be dissolved on various grounds. Separate laws exist for Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Parsis. There also exists a separate law for inter caste marriage – Special Marriage Act, 1956. Following are enlisted the points, under which divorce is granted in India:

• Most major ground is that of cruelty – mental and physical included.
• Adultery is another ground on which the request is usually granted successfully.
• Insanity is another point. Though these cases take long, the legal system present ending one’s marital union as an option.
• Mutual consent is the most popular reason in the country primarily because it is inexpensive and faster as compared to a contested arrangement.
• Impotency or non-consummation is another position on which such a request is approved.
• Marriage by fraudulent consent is another commonly heard explanation in Indian courts.
• Child marriage cases are granted this request quite easily. This usually accompanied seven year jail term for the responsible parties.
• One of the last reasons for approval is when the wife is pregnant, and the spouse is uncertain whether the child is biologically his own.

In the procedure for obtaining a divorce in India, photocopies of the following documents would need to be handled over to the officials presiding over the case. This is generally down with the left of the hired lawyer.

• Income Tax statements for the past 2 or 3 years
• Details of your profession and your present remuneration
• Your birth and family related information
• Details of properties and assents possessed by you

It is very important, that along with the documents, a detailed account of the marriage is given to your lawyer. The history, reasons for break up, degree of marital discord etc, should be shared so that he can build a strong petition for your contested divorce. Another document which should be submitted is a ‘vakalatnama’, an authority letter, for your lawyer to fight the case in the court.

India is not the easiest place to file for the termination of what is viewed as a sacred union of two souls. The most commonly found reasons for couples avoiding separating consist of the atrocious amount of time the Indian legal system is known to take, discrimination by society, and also how economically draining it is. Hence, it is essential that the decision of filing, is taken after due consideration and understanding of the divorce procedure in India.