Matrimonial & family law
Matrimonial and family law deals with the legal consequences of marriage and of family relationships — whether a marriage subsists, what each spouse may claim from the other, who a child lives with, and how the family’s property and obligations are arranged.
In India these questions are answered partly by the general law and partly by the law applicable to the parties, which is why the first thing established in a matrimonial matter is the statute under which relief is sought. The proceedings themselves are civil in character: a petition is filed, evidence is given, and the court passes a decree or order that can afterwards be varied if circumstances change.
The matters that most often come to a civil chamber are petitions for dissolution of marriage or for judicial separation, whether contested or by mutual consent; claims for maintenance for a spouse or for children, and applications to vary an existing order; custody, guardianship and visitation; petitions for restitution or for a declaration about the validity of a marriage; and disputes about matrimonial property, streedhan and articles given at the time of marriage.
Family matters are also, unavoidably, matters about people. A settled arrangement — recorded properly, with maintenance quantified and custody spelled out — is generally less damaging than a contested one, and where the parties are open to it the chambers will say so plainly. Where a matter must be contested, it is contested on the record: documents of income, of residence, of the marriage itself, and of what was actually given and taken.
Advocates at the chambers handle matrimonial and family matters, including advice before filing, drafting of petitions and settlement terms, interim applications for maintenance and custody, trial, and appeals. Matters are conducted before the courts at Kolkata that exercise this jurisdiction.
What this area covers
- Dissolution of marriage, contested and by mutual consent
- Judicial separation and restitution of conjugal rights
- Maintenance for a spouse and for children, and variation of orders
- Custody, guardianship and visitation arrangements
- Declarations as to the validity of a marriage
- Recovery of streedhan and articles given at the time of marriage
- Recording and enforcement of settlement terms
- Appeals arising from matrimonial decrees and orders
The advocates who handle these matters
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Bimlesh Kumar Jain
In practice for over fifty years, in civil matters including property and matrimonial law.
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Aditya Kumar Jain
In practice for over ten years, with a focus on property law, working with a team of associates.