SC lays down new guidelines on maintenance payments for divorcing couples; check details here

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The rules of maintenance grant in a matrimonial case has been streamlined by the Supreme Court of India (SC). Now, separating spouses will have to disclose their income and assets from the date of filing a maintenance application and failing to pay maintenance may attract an arrest or a jail term.

The SC was hearing a case filed by a woman whose maintenance plea had been pending in various courts for over seven years, reported India Today. Her estranged husband had also stopped paying interim maintenance.

Detailed guidelines on calculating interim maintenance and maintenance payment were reportedly issued by the SC bench of Justices Indu Malhotra and Subash Reddy on November 4.

The bench was quoted as noting in its judgment, "Maintenance laws have been enacted as a measure of social justice to provide recourse to dependant wives and children for their financial support, so as to prevent them from falling into destitution and vagrancy..."

The SC also made the maintenance payable "as a money decree," ensured claimants get quicker access to the funds. The court has also expressed support for women who had to give up working due to marriage.

As per the new guidelines, detailed affidavits will have to be filed by both parties, disclosing sources of income, assets and liabilities. The claimant will have to file all details at the time of applying for maintenance and the respondent will have to do the same within four weeks. In case it is not filed, the SC directed lower courts to directly accept the applicant's claim and speed up the process.

Taking cognizance of the fact that in several cases, the respondents refuse to pay maintenance or alimony by disposing of their assets and showing reduced income, the apex court ruled, "In case false statements and misrepresentations are made, proceeding under section 340 of the CrPC and for the contempt of court may be initiated."

Without filed affidavits, courts earlier took only an "estimate" of the income and assets from an arbitrary date. From now on, lower-court judges will have to abide by the streamlined process, the report said.