Alimony And Maintenance Laws In India: A Comparative Study Of The Legal Provisions Of UK, Ireland And Canada
- IJLLR Journal
- Sep 26
- 2 min read
Payel Ghosh, Research Scholar, Department of Legal Science, Techno India University, Kolkata
Dr. Debashree Chakraborty, Associate Professor, HOD, Department of Legal Science, Techno India University, Kolkata
ABSTRACT
In and of itself, maintenance and alimony serve as a gauge of social justice. One partner's legal duty to support the other financially after a separation or divorce could be regarded as a requirement of the marriage. Alimony is, in essence, the right to reasonable and justifiable necessities. Another way to term it is as spousal support. It would also refer to means of subsistence, the provision of essentials and amenities help, support, and assistance, as well as the support that one person is obligated to provide to another in order to survive. The Court held in the case of Francis Coralie v. Union Territory of Delhi1 that the right to life encompasses the right to live with dignity and everything that accompanies it, namely, the basic needs of life, such as enough food, clothing, and a shelter as well as access to facilities for reading, writing, and expressing oneself in a variety of ways, as well as the freedom to move about and mixing and commingling with fellow human beings.2 The objective of maintenance and alimony provisions in India is to serve social purposes. Both personal laws and criminal laws have these provisions. All of these provisions are meant to compel someone to uphold the moral duties that they have in society towards their spouse, kids, and parents. In UK, there are both written and unwritten laws regarding alimony and maintenance. The legal duty to pay maintenance and alimony, also known as the duty of support, arose from the marital relationship itself and was imposed regardless of the wife’s premarital wealth. Alimony in the unwritten law of England developed as a part of the law of divorce in the Ecclesiastical courts. On the other hand, Matrimonial Causes Act, 1978 is the major Act which governs the marriage, divorce, separation, maintenance, alimony etc. Spousal support is covered by both the Family Law Act and the Divorce Act in Canada. The primary goal is to identify any financial benefits or drawbacks that the spouses may have as a result of the divorce or as they leave the marriage and to minimize any financial hardship that may have resulted from the dissolution of the marriage. This paper compares and contrasts Indian law with those of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada with regard to alimony and maintenance. Constitution of any country determines and conditions the laws of that State. Indian constitution draws inspiration from multiple constitutions of the world. However, the basic structure of the Indian constitution is grounded in the constituent features of Irish, English and Canadian constitutions. It becomes imperative that laws of these above mentioned nations will cast an influence on the laws of our country too. Hence, these constitutional provisions and laws, with special reference to alimony and maintenance laws bear significant effect on Indian alimony laws as well. This paper also looks for legal distinctions and focuses on determining if these distinctions strengthen or introduce flaws into Indian legislation.
Keywords: Maintenance, Alimony, Gender Neutrality, Uniformity.
