How to Apply for Divorce in India? A Step-by-Step Guide to Divorce Procedure

Divorce is a messy, emotional affair. To learn about the legal steps for divorce in India, we checked out a couple of websites. While informative, most of the websites were dry and intimidating. Hence, we decided to ask a few lawyers and divorcees for informal, personal accounts of the legal process to break it down for all of us.

First and foremost …

Can You Apply for A Divorce Online in India?

No. Apparently, you cannot apply for a divorce online in India at the moment. “The lawyers or clerks file the divorce petition with supporting documents at court. The files would be accepted and assigned a case number at court. Sometimes the petitioner (the spouse filing for divorce) was called before the court administrative official (sheristadar) before the folder was assigned a number. In certain courts, the numbered folder was placed in a box set aside for this within the court. The entire process was time-consuming. The process of filing the relevant documents has been changed to e-filing to reduce paperwork and lessen the burden on the court (and lawyers). So now, we upload them to the website. No court in India accepts divorce petitions online at present. You go through lawyers or an offline application process if you are arguing your own case. The e-filing has simplified merely one aspect of the entire divorce petition filing process,” stated Shirley, lawyer, Kochi.

Filing for a Mutual Consent Divorce Case

“Go for a mutual divorce as far as possible. It is the easiest,” mentioned Binitha, advertising executive, Mumbai.

To apply for a mutual consent divorce, you have to follow these steps:

• The first step involves engaging the services of a family court lawyer or a divorce lawyer. You can use a big firm or independent lawyers specialised in family law for this.
• The lawyer would ask you to provide the marriage certificate, photos of the marriage (sometimes), ID proof, and a few passport-size photographs. The documents with the written petition (which will be written by the law firm or lawyer based on the details you provide) will be filed in court.
• If there are properties and alimony involved, there would be discussions regarding this with the lawyer.
• The court will set a hearing date. When you appear for the hearing, the judge will ask you to attend a court-appointed counselling session. You will be asked to wait another 6 months.
• There may be more hearings if property and other issues are involved. Sometimes, the court will ask you to attend another counselling session, especially if children are involved.
• If both parties are not amenable to continuing the marriage, the court will start proceedings for granting the divorce. In the final hearing, the court will make decisions regarding alimony and division of assets and the divorce will be finalised.

“If it’s a mutual consent case then there’s not much of an issue. The court gave us six months to see if there could be any reconciliation. After that, the divorce was granted. The court offers counselling services also.  But it’s up to the people involved if they want to take it up. If there is a kid then things are more complicated with the custody issue,” informed Sarika, associate editor, New Delhi.

“The case is filed before the family court. A single lawyer represents both the parties. After the documents were filed, during the hearing, the court appointed a counsellor to meet with us. Six months later, there was another court hearing and another counselling session, where it was determined there was an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. The lawyer was informed of the hearing dates and she used to notify us to appear for the hearing. There were around 3-4 court appearances, and the divorce was finalised,” mentioned Binitha, advertising executive, Mumbai.

Filing for a Contested Divorce

A contested divorce procedure in India is complicated compared to an uncontested or mutual consent divorce. The legal steps for a contested divorce in India are thus:

• You engage the services of a divorce lawyer or law firm. They ascertain that the points you have raised are valid.
• The lawyer will send the initial petition to the respondent (the spouse who is responding to the divorce petition filed by the petitioner).
• The respondent would appoint their lawyer and the points in the initial petition will be countered by them.
• The case is filed before the court and the spouses or opposing parties are called for a hearing.
• The lawyers speak before the court and the couple is sent for counselling.
• There would be several hearings and 3-6 months may lapse between each hearing.
• The judge would give a verdict at the final hearing after deciding on the merits of the various demands made.

“My divorce was very complicated. Three months after I filed for divorce, my ex-spouse’s family filed a criminal case against me and my parents. It was the same year that the court gave the directive to thoroughly investigate any criminal case filed against one’s in-laws. I was called to the police station and allowed to leave after questioning because the criminal case did not have merit. The one court-appointed counselling session we attended did not make any difference. My ex did not want the divorce to go through. So, when the court set a hearing date, they did not appear. A few times, I was not able to attend. Thus, the case dragged on. Finally, my ex asked the court to appoint a mediator. A mediator is a lawyer, while the counsellors are those with psychology degrees.

At the mediation, only three of us were present—the lawyer, my ex, and I. She finally agreed to the divorce. After the mediation, we came to the agreement to apply for mutual consent divorce. I asked for the criminal cases to be withdrawn. The final divorce application had the case numbers of the original divorce case and the criminal cases. The idea is that the latest case supersedes the previous cases and the verdict given on this is the final one. Since the criminal case was registered at the Munsiff court, those had to be withdrawn separately, but their case numbers were added to the mutual divorce case for reference. After that, only the lawyers had to appear for the hearings, and the divorce was finalised. My case dragged on for 3–4 years,” said Manohar, engineer, Rajkot.

Filing for an Annulment

 Filing for an annulment is almost the same process as filing for a divorce.

• You meet a divorce or family law practising lawyer and state your case.
• They compile and create the appropriate documents.
• These are filed in court.
• The respondent is sent the case summons via registered post.
• A hearing is set for which both parties have to appear.
• If the court is satisfied that the conditions for annulment are met, the process for annulment is set in motion.
• The marriage is annulled.

“I had registered a marriage with my boyfriend. Due to some issues, the marriage was not consummated and both of us were staying with our respective parents. When I filed for annulment, the respondent (my boyfriend) did not appear for the 2–3 court hearings. He did not contest the annulment of the marriage, and so the process went through without any hitch,” Heidi, bank teller, Mapusa.

Conclusion

“Unlike what you see on TV, lawyers don’t spend hours going over the nitty-gritty of a case in front of a judge. However, at each hearing, they explain the case in brief, since the judge would have forgotten what it was about. This is due to the time gap between hearings. The heart-wrenching and problematic hearings are when children and property are involved,” Manohar, engineer, Rajkot.

When we apply for divorce in India, the steps are not very complicated, especially if it is an annulment or mutual consent divorce. The proceedings might last anywhere from 1–2 years at most. However, if there are assets involved and children, and when there is no agreement regarding the division of assets and custody, then the procedures get a bit more complicated and may drag on for years. If it is a contested divorce, more than one case may be filed in courts as we saw from the case of Manohar.

We set out a step-by-step guide to divorce procedure as explained by lawyers and divorcees in this article. If you need more information on dealing with the impact of divorce or other aspects of divorce, read our other blogs. Download the Rematch app to keep abreast of the latest relationship news and to find compatible matches post-divorce.