Application for Maintenance

A wife has left her husband's flat in Kharghar with two suitcases and a child, and her salary barely covers the rent of a room in her mother's neighbourhood. Her first question to an advocate is not about divorce at all. It is: who will pay for the child's school fees next month? Indian law gives her several doors to knock on, each with its own form of application. Which one do you draft, and what must the application say to get an order quickly?

In two minutes

A maintenance application is a short, fact-heavy pleading that asks a court to order a spouse, parent or child to pay a monthly sum; the drafter picks the forum (matrimonial court, magistrate under BNSS s.144, or a domestic violence application), pleads need and means with figures, and attaches an income and assets affidavit.

The rest of this chapter

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