A petition for the annulment of marriage is moved on certain grounds specified in various matrimonial laws. Once a petitioner is successful in proving its case, marriage is declared null and void. Resultantly, the court considers that the marriage has not taken place at all and the tag of the 'divorcee' is not attached. Annulment of marriage is very important in the scheme of matrimonial laws as there is no point in carrying the burden of divorce in cases where marriage has been solemnized on the strength of fraud or where the marriage is solemnized despite the fact that the responding spouse was already married.Ashish B Desai For Company Matters in Ahmedabad And Gujarat, Matrimonial Advocate in Ahmedabad And Gujarat.We have devised a flexible fees structure to client.

Contested Divorce

Contested Divorce implies party desirous of divorce approach the family Court/Civil Court for the dissolution of marriage. Spouse seeking divorce has to take one of the grounds provided under the law of contested divorce.

There are different laws dealing with contested divorce for different section of the Society. Hindu Marriage Act,1955 provides ground for divorce for Hindus which includes Sikh, Jain and Budh religion. Indian Divorce Act,1869, provides grounds for divorce for Christian. Special Marriage Act provides grounds for divorce for people married under civil law and whose marriages are registered under Special Marriage Act,1954. Broad grounds for Divorce are as under:-

• Divorce on the ground of Adultery
• Divorce on the ground of Cruelty
• Divorce on the ground of Desertion
• Divorce on the ground of Conversion to another religion
• Divorce on the ground of Unsoundness of mind or mental disorder
• Divorce on the ground of Virulent and Incurable form of leprosy
• Divorce on the ground of Venereal disease
• Divorce on the ground of Renounce the World
• Divorce on the ground of Not heard for a period of seven years or more

Beside above, there are couples of additional grounds for divorce available only to female.

Contested Divorce Procedure:

Contested Divorce proceedings commences with filing of Divorce petition. Family Court/Civil Court causes a notice to be served on the opposite party for appearance.

On receipt of summons, opposite party has to appear in person and/or through divorce lawyer and file the response.

Court may try to resolve the differences between parties to start with by conducting conciliation or sending the matter to counselor/mediation center. If there is no settlement between parties, divorce case proceeds as per procedure.

Once initial allegation and response and counter allegations process are over, which is called pleading, case is set up for evidence after determining issues of controversy between parties.

Party initiating contested divorce has to start with the evidence first. Other party is given a chance to cross examination witness/es of the opposite party.

After that responding party i.e. Respondent has to lead evidence. Similarly, cross examination process is conducted by the divorce lawyer of opposite side.

After conclusion of evidence, Final arguments are advances by divorce lawyers from both sides.

Then the court pronounces judgment. If party initiating divorce is able to prove the case, Family Court/Civil Court will grant the decree of Divorce.

Contested divorce requires expert divorce lawyer either in prosecuting or defending divorce case. Such expert divorce lawyer guides, strategize and plan the whole action. Effective planning by divorce lawyers increases the probability of success in the trial of the case for a favorable outcome.

Contested Divorce is a long process requiring through professional work and approach. Good Divorce lawyer take through these challenging and arduous task by his expertise and your counsel through turbulent and emotional time.

Mutual Consent Divorce

Divorce by Mutual Consent is the simplest and easiest way of dissolving marriage. Procedure for Mutual Consent Divorce is laid down as under for easy understanding:-

• Both Parties i.e. Husband and Wife have to reach to Mutual understanding and agreement regarding terms and conditions for Divorce.
• On the basis of settlement and agreement, petition for Mutual Consent is drafted. Under Hindu Marriages, such Petition is filed under section 13 B of the Hindu Marriage Act. Under Christian Marriages, section 10 A of the Indian Divorce Act. Under secular or civil marriages, section 28 of the Special Marriage Act.
• Divorce Petition will be drafted which will include terms of settlement agreed between parties.
• Such Mutual Consent Divorce Petition shall be filed in the Court as court procedure.
• Matter will come up for hearing in the Court and generally parties have to be present before the Court and their statement is recorded.
• After recording of statements, First Motion will be passed.
• Court gives six months time to parties to reconsider their decision. This is called cooling period generally.
• Second Motion is set up.
• Aforesaid steps shall be repeated. Statement of parties will be recorded again.
• After such recording of statement, Court will grant pass order and judgment, decree for divorce is granted.

Divorce by mutual consent by power of attorney & video conference:

Some states like Delhi allow statement of one party to be recorded through power of attorney.

Some Courts along with power of attorney also conduct video conferencing for Mutual Consent Divorce. This process is quite useful and advisable in case party or parties living outside India. Thus, for Divorce by Mutual Consent for NRI is possible without physical presence. It saves time, energy and money.

Six months Waiver in Mutual Consent Divorce:- Law specifically provided six months gap or waiting period between First Motion and Second Motion. Prior to 2009, compliance of six months waiting was not mandatory. But, in 2009, Supreme Court made it mandatory and took away the power of the Family Court or the District Court to waive of period of six months. But, Supreme Court still has power to waive of the period of six months. Thus, Supreme Court is the only Court which has the power to dissolve the marriage in less than six months.

Foreign Divorce

DIVORCE, ANNULEMENT, CHILD CUSTODY: Issues Amongst NRIs, Indian's Living Abroad.

Divorce itself is complicated. Complication compounds and aggravate when it involves Indian Law of Divorce and Foreign Divorce and issues arising out of the same.

General questions that arise from such situation can be summed up as "Can a marriage which is solemnized in India dissolved by foreign Court? Can Indian's living abroad (for eg US) file a case for Divorce in foreign Court say US Court ??? Whether a decree of divorce granted by foreign Court say US Court is valid, legal and binding in India?? Whether an exparte decree of divorce granted by foreign Court, say US court, will be valid and binding in India? Can Indian Court restrain a spouse who has instituted divorce proceedings in foreign country?? Can a person file for divorce in foreign country (say US Court)? Is it necessary that if a divorcee decree is obtained from foreign Court (say US Court) need to validated in India by Indian Courts.

Answer to aforesaid questions differs from situation to situation and case basis. However, as per Indian Law as interpreted by Indian Court including the Supreme Court of India on NRI divorce issues, settled position can be stated as under :

Mutual Consent Divorce amongst NRIs, etc: Generally a mutual consent divorce granted by foreign Court is considered as valid, legal and binding in Indian Courts by virtue of section 13 and 14 of Code of Civil Procedure and also on account of comity of Nations. Such decree of divorce granted by foreign Courts need not to be validated in Indian Courts. However, as a matter of abundant precaution, one can approach to the Indian Court for declaring that divorce is valid and binding. Contested Divorce in foreign Court can be valid and binding depending upon on the below equation:

Matter is contested by both spouses in foreign Court. Matter is uncontested in foreign Court and one spouse comes back to India(Generally wife)

In the event, matter is contested between parties in foreign Court-say US Court, and after due adjudication and trial, divorce is granted by the foreign Court, same will be valid and binding in India. However, it is necessary to be kept in mind that ground which parties seek to obtain divorce should also be available in India. In case matter is uncontested, one party comes back to India where marriage had taken place and contest proceedings in India, divorce as granted by foreign Court will not be applicable in India. Party which comes back also has an option of filing a case in India to prevent the other spouse from proceeding in foreign Court. Indian Court has jurisdiction over its citizen. Ex-parte decree of Divorce granted by foreign Court will not be recognized by Indian Court.

Other issues like child custody and maintenance goes by the same principal. In Child Custody cases, special care and circumstances are always taken care of and the principal as explained above may vary. However, universal principal remains constant in guiding the issue of the child custody by any Court in India or foreign Court is the welfare of the child. Welfare of the child depends upon variety of factor.

NRI Legal Services

Non-Resident Indians (NRI), Indian settled abroad or on work permit who are involved in matrimonial crisis often faces complex situation of divorce, annulment and child custody and consequent legal proceedings.

They have option of filing divorce case in India. But, the biggest problem they face is direct interaction with his/her prospective Divorce Attorney to understand the complex issues of tarns-border divorce cases and NRI Divorce Laws, etc. We at Divorce Lawyers have expertise in this area of Divorce which involves NRIs, etc. We understand that time is essence and attending Court hearing is expensive as well as time consuming. We offer our specialized services and represent the client before the Court. We know the art of trade to keep the attendance of client in Court to minimum one or two during entire contested divorce case. We have achieved the unique distinction of getting the Divorce by Mutual Consent via power of attorney and video-conferencing which ensure that you even do need to be present in the Court. NRI Legal Services.

We provide complete and regular update to client about the development of the divorce, annulment, child custody cases. We are just a call or e-mail away. Our time structure is also tailor-made to address the issues of NRI Legal Services. We have achieved commendable success in NRI's Divorce and allied matter by adopting practical and lateral approach in the resolution of dispute.

498A & allied criminal proceedings

Presently, matrimonial cases are not confined within the realm of civil and family laws. Such cases can have criminal character too. Generally, wherever there is a cruelty exercised by the husband or his relative upon the wife in regard to the demand of dowry, a criminal case under section 498A of IPC is registered against the husband and the other relatives who were causing such cruelty or whose name is mentioned in the complaint by the wife. Along with this a case under section 406 of IPC is registered for criminal breach of trust beside other provision of IPC and Dowry Prohibitions Act.

In such cases, at the first instance, husband and his relatives have to apply for the interim protection, anticipatory bail and regular bail, etc. We provide our expertise service in this regard in defending as well as prosecuting the case. We have vast court experience in this regard. We also try to effectively negotiate and settle the matter in between the parties so that the parties can be saved from the traumatic experience of criminal proceedings.