Counselling

A couple in their early thirties walk into the Family Court at Bandra. She has filed for divorce, he is angry, and both are afraid of what happens to their six-year-old. Before any judge hears evidence, a court counsellor sits them down in a small room and asks what they actually want. Sometimes the answer is a divorce; sometimes it is a promise about money or time with the child; sometimes it is to try again. Indian family law puts this conversation at the very start of the case, and this topic is about where the law says so.

In two minutes

In family disputes the law makes settlement and reconciliation the court's first task: the Family Courts Act 1984 provides counsellors (s.6) and a duty to attempt settlement (s.9), and the Hindu Marriage Act (s.23(2)–(3)) and Special Marriage Act (s.34(2)) require reconciliation efforts before relief is granted.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Practical Training – II: Alternate Dispute Resolution on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.