Matrimonial and family

Matrimonial and family disputes combine questions of personal status, property and, frequently, the welfare of children, and where significant assets or a family business are involved, the legal and financial questions become closely intertwined.

Matrimonial proceedings

Divorce, judicial separation and maintenance proceedings are governed by personal law that varies by the religion and, in some cases, the community of the parties, or by the Special Marriage Act where the marriage was solemnised under it. Contested matrimonial suits (where grounds for divorce, the quantum of maintenance, or the division of matrimonial property are disputed) proceed before the Family Court, and the complexity of these proceedings increases considerably where the parties hold business interests, property across multiple states, or assets outside India.

Custody and guardianship

Custody and guardianship proceedings determine with whom a child resides and how parental responsibility is exercised, and are decided with reference to the child's welfare as the governing consideration under the applicable guardianship statutes, alongside the rights the parties assert. These proceedings often run alongside the broader matrimonial dispute rather than as a separate matter.

Domestic violence and related criminal proceedings

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 provides civil remedies (protection orders, residence orders and monetary relief) distinct from any criminal complaint arising from the same facts. Criminal proceedings connected to a matrimonial dispute, including those brought under the cruelty provisions carried forward into the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, run on their own timeline and standard of proof, separate from the matrimonial suit itself, and a person involved in both often has to manage the two simultaneously.

Asset and succession questions

Where a family business, inherited property or jointly held assets are part of the dispute, structuring advice addresses how those interests are protected or divided, and how succession and inheritance questions connect to the underlying family dispute. What the parties to a matrimonial or family matter have to decide, particularly where assets or children are involved, is how the several proceedings that can arise from a single family situation (matrimonial, custody, domestic violence and succession) are managed together rather than as isolated pieces of litigation.