Court
Handled by Advocate N. J. Parmar, B.A., LL.B., more than thirty-five years at the Bar. Court practice and notaryship run together: under section 3 of the Notaries Act, 1952 read with Rule 3 of the Notaries Rules, 1956, notaries are appointed from among advocates of long standing, and the application is routed through the court where the advocate practises.
A marriage is dissolved only by a decree of a Family Court. Papers signed on stamp paper before a notary do not end a marriage, whatever they are called. If you have been given such a document and told you are divorced, you are not — and you should have it looked at before you remarry or deal with property on that footing.
Matters handled
- Mutual consent divorce under section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, or section 28 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 — a two-motion process with the consent terms doing the real work. The document set →
- Contested divorce, judicial separation and restitution
- Custody, access and guardianship, including applications under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 where a legal guardian is required — a deed alone does not create legal guardianship
- Maintenance for spouses, children and parents. Maintenance →
- Domestic violence proceedings and protection orders
- Matrimonial settlements and consent terms, including division of property and return of stridhan
Whatever the parents agree, no arrangement puts custody beyond the court's reach. Courts strongly prefer agreed, workable, detailed arrangements — so a parenting plan set out as an operable calendar rather than as a principle is very likely to be respected. Parenting plans →
Settlement, where it is possible
Contested matrimonial litigation is slow, expensive and corrosive, and it is very often the children who carry the cost. Where a settlement is achievable it is almost always the better outcome — and the work then goes into the consent terms, because those govern the years after the decree. Where settlement is not possible, the case is conducted properly.
Where a claim is time-barred, where the document relied on was never registered and therefore cannot be received in evidence of the transaction under section 49 of the Registration Act, 1908, or where the realistic recovery is less than the cost of recovering it — you will be told at the first meeting, not after money has been spent. A settlement reached quickly is very often worth more than a decree obtained slowly.
What to bring
- Every document you have, including the unhelpful ones
- Photo ID
- A dated account of what has happened
- Any notice or court paper already received or sent
- Marriage certificate or proof of marriage
- Details of children, ages and schooling
- Details of assets, income and liabilities on both sides
- Any existing court order