Divorce Law Videos - Can my wife claim maintenance after mutual divorce is granted?

If a husband and wife get divorced after a number of years of marriage and the relationship ends on sour terms, the husband cannot refuse to pay maintenance to the wife on the ground that they do not have good relations anymore. Sour relations has been specifically held as being no ground by the court to refuse maintenance and the court directed the husband to pay the maintenance, nonetheless.

Maintenance is granted to wives who are unable to maintain themselves. The Supreme Court has said that delay in maintenance to wife is a violation of human rights. The Supreme Court has also ruled that there can be no escape for a husband from the responsibility of giving sustenance money to a wife, even if a case of soured relations is involved. 
Provisions for maintenance as well as interim maintenance have been provided under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The grounds under which maintenance are to be provided have also been laid down under the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as under personal laws.  

The court can also direct a jobless husband to provide maintenance to a wife after the marriage has ended. Joblessness is, hence, no bar to payment of maintenance and this is one of the major threats as faced by the husband after the marriage has ended in divorce.

If the wife had been dependent on the earnings of the husband throughout the period of marriage, it would become very difficult for the wife to survive without maintenance after the marriage ends. This is the reason as to why providing of maintenance is considered to be of such importance.  

When the demand of maintenance by a husband to a wife comes up, the term ‘wife’ here includes a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband and has not remarried and sufficient means refers to a person being able-bodied and having the ability to earn. 

There are only a few grounds on which maintenance can be refused and these are: 
The wife must not be living in adultery
Wife must not refuse without sufficient reasons to live with her husband
The wife must not be living separately by mutual consent
The wife must not relinquish her right to maintenance

The Supreme Court has, time and again, re-emphasised on the importance of alimony which is to be provided by the husband to the wife after divorce. The attitude of the Supreme Court has actively been taken up and incorporated in the decisions as taken by family courts of the country as well. The general attitude is very favourable to the husband providing maintenance to the wife at the moment.