Divorces are not pleasant affairs. They tend to be especially traumatic when it involves asset distribution, custody, or property. It is best to seek legal advice when dealing with a contested divorce. To ensure you secure your property share and assets, a property lawyer can be useful.
Know your Divorce Laws
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, governs the order of Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh divorces in India. People believe in marriages being a holy sanctum.
Likewise, the Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 litigates over Muslim divorces, and Indian Divorce Act, 1869, governs Christian divorces.
The spouse initiates the legal proceedings before the marriage has ended formally in all cases.
Nature of Divorce Petitions
While there is barely anything amicable about a divorce, consented divorces provide the space for couples to figure out how they will shape their lives subsequently.
A consensus is essential regarding three aspects –
- Alimony – The support expected of either spouse for each other following the divorce.
- Child Custody – The decision over who will be the children’s primary custodian and visitation and financial support.
- Property – The share either spouse receives for tangible and intangible assets, including bank accounts, housing, land, etc.
In the absence of mutual consent, the court requires reasonable grounds for the divorce to take place.
Some of the reasons include –
- Adultery
- Cruelty
- Abandonment
- Religious conversions
- Uninformed contagious diseases
- Uninformed mental disorders
- Presumption of death (spouse is missing for over seven years)
Who gets to keep the property?
While the divorce proceeding is underway, the couple can stay in the same property until closure.
The court does not base its decision on land ownership or documents.
Marriage entitles you
Marriage entitles you to occupy the property even if after the divorce petition filing.
The involvement of children makes this a stronger case.
Following the divorce, either of the spouses keeps the property over the other based on divorce grounds.
Property Law in Divorces
The government prefers providing women with property ownership unless the odds in divorce are against them.
Women receive incentives and less stamp duty. Lawyers can assist with dividing joint ownership over the property.
The purchase of property does not entitle right. The registered users are the owners of the land.
Before the division, lawyers assess either spouse’s contribution to ownership, loans taken, or payments made.
The mortgage amounts also require settlement based on rules and liability.
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