When a husband stops paying for the household, a son abandons elderly parents, or a father refuses to support his children, Indian law gives a monthly claim that Delhi courts take seriously. This guide explains every route available in Delhi, including section 144 of the BNSS (the old section 125 CrPC), interim maintenance and permanent alimony under the Hindu Marriage Act, the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, the DV Act, the Special Marriage Act and the Senior Citizens Act. It covers how the amount is worked out after Rajnesh v. Neha, what happens when the wife earns or the husband hides income, how arrears are recovered, when maintenance can be refused or reduced, what the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court have decided in 2025 and 2026, and how a husband should defend a claim fairly. Share your situation in the form and an enrolment-checked advocate can call you, at no charge to you.
In Delhi, a wife (including a divorced wife who has not remarried), children and parents who cannot maintain themselves can claim monthly maintenance from a husband, father or son who has enough means and neglects them, under section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (formerly section 125 CrPC), filed in the family court of the district where either side lives or where they last lived together. There is no upper limit on the amount. The court can grant interim maintenance, which it is expected to decide within 60 days of notice, and maintenance usually runs from the date of the application. Both sides must file sworn affidavits of income and assets under the Supreme Court\'s 2020 decision in Rajnesh v. Neha. Wives can also claim under the Hindu Marriage Act during divorce, under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, or under the DV Act, but amounts in one case are adjusted in another. Unpaid maintenance can be recovered by warrant, attachment and, ultimately, jail of up to one month for each month of default.
Maintenance is money that one family member is legally bound to pay so that another can live with basic dignity. In everyday Delhi practice, the word usually means a monthly amount a husband pays his wife and children after they start living apart, but the law is wider. A son or daughter with means must support parents who cannot support themselves. A father must support his minor children, whoever has custody. A divorced wife who has not remarried can continue to claim. Courts here hear thousands of these cases every year, in the family courts of each district, before the Mahila Courts in DV cases, and in the Maintenance Tribunals for senior citizens.
The guiding idea, repeated by the Supreme Court in many decisions, is that maintenance is not charity and not a punishment. It exists to prevent destitution and vagrancy, and to let a wife and children live, as far as possible, in the way they lived when the family was together. In Chaturbhuj v. Sita Bai (2008), the Court described the provision as a measure of social justice meant to protect women and children. In Rajnesh v. Neha (2020), it added that the amount must be fair and realistic, neither so low that the wife is pushed into poverty nor so high that it crushes the husband.
| Claimant | Against | Main routes in Delhi |
|---|---|---|
| Wife (living separately) | Husband | Section 144 BNSS, section 18 HAMA (Hindu wives), DV Act section 20, section 24 HMA during matrimonial cases |
| Divorced wife who has not remarried | Former husband | Section 144 BNSS, permanent alimony under section 25 HMA or section 37 SMA, Muslim Women Act 1986 for Muslim women |
| Minor child, legitimate or illegitimate | Father | Section 144 BNSS, section 20 HAMA, along with the mother's claim in any of the above |
| Adult child unable to maintain itself due to physical or mental abnormality or injury | Father | Section 144 BNSS |
| Unmarried Hindu daughter, until marriage | Father | Section 20 HAMA |
| Parents who cannot maintain themselves | Son or daughter with means | Section 144 BNSS, Senior Citizens Act 2007, section 20 HAMA |
Choosing the right route is the first strategic decision, and it is often made carelessly. Several laws give maintenance, they overlap, and the choice affects speed, the amount, enforcement and what else you can claim in the same case.
| Law | Who it covers | Strengths | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 144 BNSS (old section 125 CrPC) | Everyone, any religion | Summary and relatively quick; strong enforcement by warrant and jail; interim maintenance within 60 days of notice as far as possible | Only maintenance; claimant must be unable to maintain herself; husband must have neglected or refused |
| Section 24 Hindu Marriage Act | Hindu spouses, husband or wife, during a divorce or other matrimonial case | Covers litigation expenses too; either spouse can claim; decided early in the case | Available only while a matrimonial case is pending |
| Section 25 Hindu Marriage Act | Hindu spouses at or after the decree | Permanent alimony, lump sum or periodic, secured on property if needed | Decided with or after the decree |
| Section 18 Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act | Hindu wife, without divorce | Civil suit; lists situations where she may live separately and still claim | Slower civil procedure |
| Section 20 DV Act | Women facing domestic violence | Combined with protection, residence and custody orders; interim orders possible early | Must show domestic violence |
| Sections 36 and 37 Special Marriage Act | Couples married under the SMA, including inter-faith couples | Same function as sections 24 and 25 HMA | Only during or after SMA proceedings |
| Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 | Divorced Muslim women | Reasonable and fair provision for the future, to be made within the iddat period (Danial Latifi, 2001) | Section 144 remains available too, as held in Mohd Abdul Samad (2024) |
| Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 | Parents and senior citizens | Quick tribunal process before the SDM; no lawyers needed | Monthly cap of Rs 10,000 under the Act as it stands |
Yes, and in Delhi most contested marriages see at least two maintenance proceedings. But Rajnesh v. Neha settled that claims in multiple proceedings are not cumulative in the sense of collecting twice for the same need. The court in the later proceeding must take into account what has already been awarded, and the applicant must disclose earlier orders. The usual pattern is: section 144 or DV Act maintenance while the couple is separated; section 24 HMA interim maintenance when a divorce petition is filed; section 25 HMA permanent alimony at the end. Each step adjusts the previous one.
In Mohd Abdul Samad v. State of Telangana (July 2024), the Supreme Court confirmed that section 125 CrPC, now section 144 BNSS, is open to a divorced Muslim woman, and that the 1986 Act does not take away that secular remedy. This confirmed the line of cases beginning with Shah Bano (1985) and Danial Latifi (2001). A Muslim wife who has not been divorced has always been able to use section 125.
Section 144 speaks of a "wife", but courts have extended its protection in some situations to women in long cohabitation where the parties lived as husband and wife, drawing on the presumption of marriage from long cohabitation. In Chanmuniya v. Virendra Kumar Singh Kushwaha (2010), the Supreme Court favoured a broad reading and referred the question to a larger bench. A woman in a relationship in the nature of marriage can more securely claim monetary relief under the DV Act, which expressly covers such relationships.
From 1 July 2024, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure. The old section 125, the provision most people still call "125 ka case", is now section 144, with the procedure in section 145 and alteration of orders in section 146. The substance is largely unchanged. Cases already pending on 1 July 2024 carry on under the old Code; new applications are filed under the BNSS. In Delhi, these cases are heard by the family courts of each district under section 7(2) of the Family Courts Act, 1984.
The old ceiling of Rs 500 per month was removed by an amendment in 2001. The court can award whatever amount is reasonable in the circumstances, and can also order expenses of the proceeding.
The court can order a monthly allowance for interim maintenance and expenses of the proceeding while the application is pending. The proviso asks that an interim application be disposed of, as far as possible, within 60 days from the date of service of notice on the respondent. In Delhi's busy family courts this deadline is often missed, but asking for an early hearing on the interim application, with complete income affidavits filed promptly, makes a difference.
The court may order maintenance from the date of the order or from the date of the application. Rajnesh v. Neha directed that, in all proceedings, maintenance should be awarded from the date of the application, because delays in deciding cases are not the claimant's fault.
Section 144(4) says a wife is not entitled to maintenance from her husband if she is living in adultery, or if, without sufficient reason, she refuses to live with her husband, or if they are living separately by mutual consent. Each of these is interpreted narrowly. "Living in adultery" means a continuing adulterous relationship, not a single lapse. "Sufficient reason" includes cruelty, the husband keeping another woman, dowry demands, or a hostile atmosphere in the matrimonial home. A husband's offer to take the wife back, made only to defeat the claim, does not automatically disentitle her; the court looks at whether the offer is genuine.
Under section 145, proceedings may be taken in any district where the respondent is, where he resides, where the wife resides, or where he last resided with the wife or with the mother of an illegitimate child. A woman who has come back to her parents in Delhi can file in Delhi even if the husband lives in Mumbai or abroad.
Evidence is taken in the presence of the respondent or his advocate, but if the court is satisfied that he is wilfully avoiding service or neglecting to attend, it can proceed ex parte. An ex parte order can be set aside within three months on good cause, on terms the court thinks just, including payment of costs.
When a divorce, judicial separation, restitution or annulment case is pending in the family court, either spouse who has no independent income sufficient for support and the necessary expenses of the proceeding can ask for monthly maintenance and litigation expenses from the other. Unlike section 144, a husband can claim under section 24 if he is genuinely without means and the wife earns. The proviso asks that the application be disposed of, as far as possible, within 60 days of service of notice. Delhi's family courts treat section 24 applications as a priority, and refusal to pay can lead to the defaulting party's defence being struck off.
At the time of passing any decree, or at any time afterwards, the court can order a lump sum or periodic payment for the maintenance and support of the applicant spouse, having regard to the respondent's income and property, the applicant's income and property, the conduct of the parties and other circumstances. The payment can be secured by a charge on the respondent's immovable property. The order can be varied if circumstances change, and can be rescinded if the recipient remarries or, in the case of a wife, has not remained chaste, or in the case of a husband, has had sexual intercourse with a woman outside marriage, as the section says.
In Parvin Kumar Jain v. Anju Jain (December 2024), the Supreme Court listed factors relevant to permanent alimony: social and financial standing of both sides, what the wife and children reasonably require, education and jobs of each spouse, independent income or assets of the applicant, the standard of living in the matrimonial home, sacrifices made for family responsibilities, reasonable litigation costs, and the financial capacity and liabilities of the husband. Earlier, in Kiran Jyot Maini v. Anish Pramod Patel (2024), the Court gave a similar list. In Anamika Jain v. Dr. Atul Jain (January 2026), as reported, the Court held that a wife's education by itself is no bar to permanent alimony and raised the monthly amount from Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000 with arrears.
Most Delhi divorces by mutual consent include a one-time payment in full and final settlement of all claims, often paid in two instalments linked to the first and second motions. A properly recorded full and final settlement generally prevents the wife from claiming further maintenance later, as the Supreme Court held in Reji Baby v. Subi Mary (August 2026) in the context of DV proceedings, though children's rights cannot be bargained away by a parent. See our news report on that ruling. Mara Vakil's mutual divorce service prepares the petition and settlement terms for a fee.
The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 gives a Hindu wife the right to be maintained by her husband during her lifetime, and to live separately without losing that right if he is guilty of desertion, has treated her with cruelty, has another wife living, keeps a concubine, has converted to another religion, or there is any other justifiable cause. The claim is made through a civil suit, which in Delhi goes to the family court. It is useful where a wife wants a declared right to maintenance without seeking divorce and without the conditions of section 144. Section 23 of the Act lists factors for deciding the amount, including the position and status of the parties and the reasonable wants of the claimant.
A Hindu is bound to maintain his or her legitimate or illegitimate children and aged or infirm parents. A minor child can claim from the father or mother. An unmarried daughter can claim until her marriage if she is unable to maintain herself out of her own earnings or property. In Abhilasha v. Prakash (2020), the Supreme Court held that an unmarried Hindu daughter who has attained majority can claim under section 20 HAMA, even though section 125 CrPC confined her claim to minority unless she suffered from a disability.
There is no fixed formula in the statutes, and two families with the same income can receive different amounts. But since November 2020, every maintenance case in India, including those in Delhi, follows the procedure laid down by the Supreme Court in Rajnesh v. Neha. The decision drew on a format for income affidavits first developed by the Delhi High Court in Kusum Sharma v. Mahinder Kumar Sharma, and made it mandatory nationwide.
Each side has to swear and file a statement of assets and liabilities in the form attached to that judgment. The applicant files it with the application; the respondent files it with the reply, within the time the court fixes. The affidavit covers personal details, educational qualifications, employment and income from all sources, assets (immovable property, vehicles, bank accounts, investments, jewellery), liabilities and loans, monthly expenses, the standard of living of the parties, dependants, and details of any earlier maintenance orders. Pay slips, tax returns, account statements and title documents go along with it as proof. A false affidavit can lead to prosecution for perjury and contempt, and courts in Delhi do refer such cases.
No fixed percentage. In Kalyan Dey Chowdhury v. Rita Dey Chowdhury Nee Nandy (2017), the Supreme Court remarked that 25 per cent of the husband's net salary would be just and proper for maintenance in that case, and the figure is often cited as a reference point. Courts in Delhi frequently arrive at amounts in the range of a fifth to a third of the husband's net income for the wife, with more where children are involved, but this is a pattern of outcomes, not a rule. Where the husband's income is very high, needs and standard of living matter more than percentages.
Husbands often show large EMIs on car or home loans to reduce their apparent disposable income. In Deepa Joshi v. Gaurav Joshi (April 2026), as reported, the Supreme Court held that repayments on loans taken to acquire assets cannot be used to defeat a wife's claim under section 144 BNSS, and enhanced maintenance to Rs 25,000 a month. Courts distinguish between genuine unavoidable liabilities and voluntary investments that build the husband's own wealth.
Rajnesh directed that where maintenance has been awarded in one proceeding, the court in a subsequent proceeding must take it into account while deciding the amount, and the applicant must disclose earlier proceedings and orders. If the later court considers a higher amount appropriate, it can award the difference.
Many people ask, "How much will I get?" Any figure without the documents is a guess, but an illustration helps. If a salaried husband in Delhi takes home Rs 90,000 a month, has no other dependants, and the wife has no income and lives with a young child, an interim award somewhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 for the wife and child together would be unsurprising, adjusted for rent, school fees and the lifestyle the family had. A wife earning Rs 25,000 herself might receive a smaller top-up, or none if her income keeps her near the marital standard. These are illustrations of how courts reason, not predictions for any case.
The most contested question in Delhi maintenance cases today is the wife's own earning capacity. Many wives are graduates or professionals; many husbands argue that a qualified woman should simply get a job. The law strikes a balance that has been refined in recent years.
In Shailja v. Khobbanna (2018), the Supreme Court held that the fact that a wife is capable of earning is not a sufficient reason to reduce maintenance; the question is whether she is actually earning enough to maintain herself. In Sunita Kachwaha v. Anil Kachwaha (2014), it held that a wife's postgraduate qualification did not mean she had income. These decisions protect women who left jobs after marriage or who have been out of the workforce for years.
At the same time, Delhi courts have warned against using maintenance to subsidise idleness. In a March 2025 decision reported in the press, the Delhi High Court upheld a refusal of interim maintenance to a highly qualified wife with earning experience, observing that the law is meant to promote equality between spouses, not idleness. In July 2026, Justice Madhu Jain of the Delhi High Court, in a DV maintenance dispute involving a former Air India pilot, held that a professionally qualified spouse can be directed to make genuine efforts to find work, but that earning capacity is not the same as actual earnings. The Court also held that a later fall in the husband's income does not make an earlier order illegal; it calls for a prospective adjustment, and reduced his ongoing liability from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15,000 a month after his salary stopped.
Even where a wife is held not entitled to maintenance for herself, for example because she earns well, the children's right to maintenance from their father remains. Both parents share responsibility, and courts increasingly look at the incomes of both when fixing child support, but a father with means cannot avoid his share because the mother works.
Applications under section 144 BNSS, suits under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, and section 24 and 25 applications in matrimonial cases are heard by the family courts. Delhi's family courts sit in every district court complex: Tis Hazari for Central and West, Karkardooma and nearby Vishwas Nagar for East, North East and Shahdara, Saket for South and South East, Rohini for North and North West, Dwarka for South West, and Patiala House for New Delhi. Our guide to the Delhi family courts explains which court covers which area, the counselling and mediation process, and how hearings run. Maintenance under the DV Act is claimed before the Mahila Courts; see our DV case guide.
Interim orders in Delhi often come within a few months of filing, though delays in serving notice or filing affidavits can stretch this. Final orders in contested section 144 cases commonly take one to two years or more. A well-drafted petition, complete documents at the start, and an advocate who presses for the interim hearing make the biggest difference to how soon money begins to flow.
The 1987 Legal Services Authorities Act makes free legal help available to every woman and every child, whatever they earn. The legal services authority front offices in each district court complex can assign a panel lawyer. See our page on free legal aid eligibility.
An order is only as good as its enforcement. Many women in Delhi win maintenance orders and then spend more time chasing payment than they spent getting the order. The law gives several tools, and the Supreme Court in Rajnesh v. Neha urged courts to use them firmly.
If the respondent fails without sufficient cause to comply with an order, the court can issue a warrant for levying the amount due in the manner provided for levying fines, and can sentence him, for the whole or any part of each month's allowance remaining unpaid after execution of the warrant, to imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month or until payment if sooner made. Imprisonment does not wipe out the debt; the arrears remain payable.
The proviso to section 144(3) says that no warrant shall be issued for recovery of any amount due unless an application is made to the court within one year from the date on which it became due. This is a trap for women who wait, hoping the husband will pay. File recovery applications regularly, at least once a year and ideally every few months, so that no instalment slips past the one-year limit.
Enforcing against a husband abroad is harder but not impossible. Courts can attach his property in India, restrain the sale of family property, direct his Indian employer or bank to pay, and in some cases impound his passport through appropriate proceedings or issue look-out circulars through criminal cases. Reciprocal arrangements with some countries also allow enforcement of maintenance orders abroad. These cases need early planning by an advocate.
Under section 146 BNSS (old section 127 CrPC), on proof of a change in the circumstances of any person receiving or paying maintenance, the magistrate or family court may make such alteration in the allowance as it thinks fit. Common grounds are a large increase in the husband's income, rising costs of growing children's education, the wife getting a well-paid job, the husband losing his job through no fault of his own, or serious illness. Similar provisions exist under section 25(2) HMA, section 25 of the DV Act and the HAMA.
The Delhi High Court's July 2026 decision mentioned above illustrates the approach: a genuine fall in income justifies a prospective reduction, but it does not make the earlier order wrong or wipe out arrears that accrued when he was earning.
Section 146 also provides that an order in favour of a wife shall be cancelled if she has remarried, or, in the case of a divorced wife, if she has received the whole of the sum payable on divorce under customary or personal law, or has voluntarily surrendered her rights to maintenance after divorce. A wife who starts living in adultery, or refuses without sufficient reason to live with her husband, can also have the order cancelled.
Maintenance can be refused if the wife is found to have sufficient means of her own, if she left without sufficient reason, if the separation is by mutual consent, or if she is living in adultery. The burden of proving these lies on the husband, and courts require clear evidence, not suspicion.
An order of the family court under section 144 BNSS can be challenged in revision before the Delhi High Court; orders under the HMA and HAMA are appealable to the High Court under section 19 of the Family Courts Act. The High Court does not usually disturb interim orders unless there is a clear error. Paying the ordered amount while the challenge is pending is strongly advisable; courts often make continued payment a condition of hearing the husband's challenge.
Parents who cannot maintain themselves can claim from a son or a daughter, married or unmarried, who has sufficient means. Under section 144 BNSS, the claim is filed in the family court. Under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, a parent or senior citizen can apply to the Maintenance Tribunal, which in Delhi is the SDM of the sub-division, with appeal to the Appellate Tribunal headed by the District Magistrate. The tribunal process is meant to be quick and informal; the Act bars lawyers from representing parties before the tribunal, though parents can be helped by a maintenance officer. The maximum monthly amount under the Act is Rs 10,000.
The Senior Citizens Act also allows a transfer of property made by a senior citizen, on the understanding that the person receiving it will look after the senior citizen's basic needs, to be set aside if that promise is broken. Delhi's own rules under the Act go further and let the authorities remove children or relatives from a senior citizen's home in fit cases. Where a daughter-in-law claims a residence right under the DV Act in the same property, the Supreme Court's decision in S. Vanitha (2020) requires the two statutes to be harmonised.
A father must maintain his minor children, whether legitimate or illegitimate, whether or not they are married in the case of a minor son, and regardless of which parent has custody. Under section 144, a minor daughter who is married is the husband's responsibility, but the court can order the father to maintain her until she attains majority if her husband lacks sufficient means. An adult child unable to maintain itself because of physical or mental abnormality or injury can claim without age limit. Hindu unmarried daughters can claim until marriage under section 20 HAMA, as Abhilasha v. Prakash (2020) confirmed.
Children's maintenance should realistically cover school fees, books, uniforms, tuition, transport, medical care, extra-curricular activities and higher education. Courts in Delhi increasingly provide for periodic increases or for direct payment of school fees by the father, apart from the monthly amount, to avoid repeated litigation as costs rise.
A father who is denied access to his child sometimes stops paying maintenance in protest. This is a mistake. Visitation and maintenance are separate issues; the remedy for denial of access is an application before the family court, not withholding support. Equally, a mother cannot be asked to give up custody in exchange for maintenance. Our family court guide explains custody and visitation proceedings in Delhi.
Many husbands who come to a lawyer in Delhi are not trying to avoid supporting their families; they are worried about paying an unrealistic amount, paying twice in different cases, or supporting a spouse who earns. A sensible defence protects those concerns without damaging credibility.
If a criminal case for cruelty has also been filed, the stakes are higher; see our guides on 498A cases in Delhi and anticipatory bail in Delhi.
These composite examples show how the principles play out. They are not real cases.
She has a six-year-old son and no income; her husband works for a multinational in Gurugram and takes home about Rs 1.2 lakh a month. He has paid nothing for eight months. Her advocate files a section 144 application in the family court at Rohini, where she now lives, with an interim application, her Rajnesh affidavit, the son's school fee receipts, and the husband's LinkedIn profile and last known salary slip. The husband's affidavit claims Rs 70,000 with heavy EMIs on a car. The court discounts the car loan as a voluntary liability and orders interim maintenance for the wife and son from the date of application. When two months go unpaid, she files a recovery application immediately rather than waiting.
She earns Rs 32,000 a month; her husband, a chartered accountant, declares Rs 60,000 but the firm's filings and his lifestyle suggest much more. During the divorce case in the family court, she applies under section 24 HMA for maintenance and litigation expenses. The court, comparing the parties' real circumstances, grants her a top-up and directs the husband to pay the daughter's school fees directly. Her own salary reduces, but does not eliminate, her claim.
A widowed mother of 74, with a small pension, has two sons; one lives with her and helps, the other, an engineer in Noida, pays nothing. She applies to the Maintenance Tribunal under the Senior Citizens Act without a lawyer, with help from a local maintenance officer. The tribunal directs the engineer son to pay a monthly amount within the statutory cap. Had she needed more than the cap, a section 144 BNSS application in the family court would have been available too.
He was paying Rs 40,000 a month under a 2024 order when his company shut down in 2026. He continues paying what he can, gathers the closure notice, his job applications and bank statements, and applies under section 146 BNSS for alteration. The court reduces the amount prospectively while he looks for work, but holds him liable for arrears that accrued before the closure, and makes clear that the amount will be revisited when he is re-employed.
A maintenance case is won or lost on documents and on persistence. Look for an advocate who:
Use the form on this page to describe your situation. Verified Delhi advocates who handle family and maintenance work can then contact you. Mara Vakil takes no fee from you for the introduction or the first conversation; if you engage an advocate, you and the advocate agree the fee directly. The platform charges only for documents it drafts, such as a legal notice demanding unpaid support or a mutual divorce petition. Lists of Delhi family lawyers and Delhi divorce lawyers are also on the site, as is our note on how to choose an advocate.
Money a person is legally bound to pay so that a wife, child or parent who cannot support themselves can live with dignity.
The provision that replaced section 125 CrPC from 1 July 2024, allowing wives, children and parents to claim monthly maintenance.
Cases filed before 1 July 2024 continue under it. New applications are filed under section 144 of the BNSS.
The family courts in each district court complex hear section 144 cases, HAMA suits and matrimonial maintenance.
Where the respondent lives or is, where you live, or where you last lived together, under section 145 BNSS.
Yes, if you live in Delhi. Enforcement against a husband abroad needs planning but is possible.
A wife, a divorced wife who has not remarried, minor children, disabled adult children, and parents unable to maintain themselves.
Yes, under section 144 BNSS until she remarries, and also through permanent alimony under the marriage laws.
Yes. The Supreme Court confirmed in Mohd Abdul Samad (2024) that divorced Muslim women can use section 125, now section 144.
Not under section 144, but a Hindu husband without means can claim under sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act.
No. The ceiling under section 125 was removed in 2001. The court fixes a reasonable amount.
Temporary monthly support fixed early in the case, ideally within about two months of notice reaching the other side.
Under Rajnesh v. Neha, ordinarily from the date of the application.
The 2020 Supreme Court decision laying down uniform rules for maintenance: disclosure affidavits, factors, date of payment, adjustment and enforcement.
A sworn form, filed by each side, setting out earnings, property, debts and monthly spending.
They can face perjury and contempt proceedings, and the court will draw adverse conclusions.
There is no fixed rule. The Supreme Court called 25 percent of net salary just in one 2017 case, and it is often used only as a reference.
Status of the parties, needs of wife and children, marital standard of living, both incomes, liabilities and dependants.
Not loans taken to build the husband's own assets. The Supreme Court so held in Deepa Joshi v. Gaurav Joshi (April 2026).
Yes, where your salary falls short of the lifestyle you had in the marriage; courts often grant a top-up.
Qualification alone is not a bar. Courts look at actual earnings, though they may expect genuine efforts to find work.
It held earning capacity is not the same as actual income, and that a later fall in the husband's income justifies only a prospective reduction.
As reported, that a wife's education alone does not bar permanent alimony; it raised the monthly amount to Rs 30,000.
An able-bodied husband is presumed able to earn. Shamima Farooqui (2015) and Anju Garg (2022) say he cannot escape maintenance this way.
Through ITRs, salary records, bank statements, property and business records, lifestyle evidence, and court summons to employers or banks.
Yes. Where income is concealed, courts estimate it from lifestyle and circumstances.
If she lives in adultery, stays away from him without good reason, or the two agreed to live apart.
Cruelty, dowry demands, the husband keeping another woman, or a hostile home are typical examples.
No. 'Living in adultery' means a continuing relationship, not an isolated lapse.
Yes, but amounts are adjusted so the same need is not paid for twice.
Maintenance and litigation expenses for a spouse without sufficient income while a matrimonial case is pending.
Permanent alimony, lump sum or periodic, ordered at or after the decree.
Status, needs, qualifications, incomes, standard of living, sacrifices for family, litigation costs and the husband's capacity, as in Parvin Kumar Jain (2024).
A Hindu wife's right to be maintained by her husband, including while living separately for listed reasons, without divorce.
A Hindu unmarried daughter can claim under section 20 HAMA until marriage, as held in Abhilasha v. Prakash (2020).
Under section 144, until majority, or longer if the child cannot maintain itself due to disability.
No. The father must maintain his child whoever has custody.
No. Visitation and maintenance are separate. Apply to the family court for access instead.
Yes. Section 144 covers sons and daughters with sufficient means.
A tribunal claim by parents or senior citizens against children or relatives, capped at Rs 10,000 a month.
The Maintenance Tribunal, presided over by the SDM, with appeal to the District Magistrate.
No. The Act bars lawyers from representing parties before the tribunal.
Yes, if the gift was made on the promise of care and the child breaks that promise, the Senior Citizens Act lets the transfer be set aside.
Yes, under section 20, along with protection, residence and custody orders.
Nominal. The main cost is the advocate's fee, and legal aid is free for women and children.
Interim orders often within months; contested final orders commonly one to two years or more.
Marriage proof, children's documents, residence proof, income details of both, expense bills, earlier orders and the disclosure affidavit.
Often. Delhi family courts refer many cases to counsellors or the mediation centre.
Yes, if the respondent wilfully avoids service or hearings. He can seek to set it aside within three months for good cause.
Apply for recovery. The court can issue a warrant, attach property and jail him up to one month per unpaid month.
Yes. A warrant can be sought only for amounts that fell due within one year before the recovery application.
No. The arrears remain payable even after imprisonment.
Yes. Courts can direct the employer to deduct and pay directly.
In matrimonial cases, wilful non-payment of interim maintenance can lead to striking off his defence as a last resort.
Yes. Rajnesh v. Neha noted enforcement as a civil money decree, including attachment and civil detention.
Yes, under section 146 BNSS on a change in circumstances, such as higher income or children's rising costs.
Yes, on a genuine change such as job loss or the wife's new income, usually prospectively.
On the wife's remarriage, or for a divorced wife who received the full settlement or surrendered her rights, among other grounds.
Section 144 orders go in revision to the Delhi High Court; HMA and HAMA orders are appealed under the Family Courts Act.
Yes. Courts often make continued payment a condition of hearing the challenge.
Usually not. Reji Baby v. Subi Mary (2026) refused revival through DV proceedings after a full settlement.
No. Children's rights cannot be bargained away by a parent.
Possibly under section 144 after long cohabitation; the DV Act is a firmer route where the couple lived like spouses.
Tax treatment depends on whether it is periodic or lump sum and on current law. Take tax advice for large settlements.
Yes. Permanent alimony and settlements are often lump sums, sometimes paid in instalments tied to the divorce stages.
It depends on the validity of the marriage and the facts. Courts have protected women deceived into void marriages in some cases.
Generally no under section 144. The obligation is the husband's, though residence rights may involve in-laws' property.
Permanent alimony can be secured by a charge on his immovable property, and courts can attach property for arrears.
Yes. Courts often direct direct payment of school fees in addition to monthly maintenance.
Usually from the date of application, not before, though some laws allow past claims in limited situations.
Courts estimate income from business activity, assets and lifestyle when records are unreliable.
Yes, if you had sufficient reason, such as cruelty or dowry harassment.
No. It continues, and section 24 HMA amounts are adjusted against it.
Yes, under section 24 HMA, and the court can order proceeding expenses under section 144 too.
Under section 144, you must show neglect and that you had reason to live apart if that is disputed. The DV Act needs proof of domestic violence.
Delhi district courts allow e-filing, and many hearings can be held through video conference.
Courts look at his real capacity and past earnings, not a deliberate reduction.
His salary is easy to verify, and courts can direct deduction through his department.
No. The DV Act is only for women.
An officer under the Senior Citizens Act who can help parents and represent them before the tribunal.
The Senior Citizens Act includes grandchildren among children liable to maintain a parent or grandparent.
A Delhi High Court case that developed the income affidavit format later adopted nationally in Rajnesh v. Neha.
Courts may direct a qualified spouse to make genuine efforts to find work, as the Delhi High Court did in July 2026.
Not merely for that. Living with parents after separation is normal; the question is entitlement and reason for separation.
Mainly his own income and assets, though joint family resources and lifestyle can be relevant.
Yes. Section 144 covers an adult child unable to maintain itself due to physical or mental abnormality or injury.
Courts have allowed a childless step-mother to claim from a step-son in some cases. It depends on facts.
Courts consider both incomes when fixing child support, but the father's duty continues.
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The family courts at the Rohini court complex, serving North and North West districts.
The East district family courts near Karkardooma, in Vishwas Nagar.
The West district family courts at Tis Hazari.
The South district family courts at the Saket court complex.
The South West district family courts at the Dwarka court complex.
This page gives general information based on the sources listed, as checked on 17 October 2026. Maintenance amounts depend on documents and the facts of each family; confirm with an advocate before acting. Mara Vakil is a technology platform, not a law firm, and does not give legal advice. Read our disclaimer.
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