Due to family discord with my wife, I have filed a contested divorce case against my wife in family court in Pune around 1 year back. She has not appeared for a single hearing and she has not filed written statement. Current stage of the case is evidence. Now suddenly my wife has agreed to go for mutual divorce for certain amount of payment of amount X which is ok with me. So I have below questions 1. Is it good idea to go for mutual divorce when I will get ex-parte divorce in next 2-3 hearing(As per my current lawyer who is representing me for contested divorce, we will get ex-parte divorce anyway in 2-3 hearings)? Will there be any risk if I do not go for mutual divorce and pursue the case of contested divorce? 2. Can we convert this contested petition to mutual divorce petition or we have to file new fresh mutual divorce petition? 3. How much time does it take to get final divorce with mutual? I know for fresh mutual divorce petition it takes 6 months after petition is filed. WIll it still be 6 months event if I was fighting the contested case since last year. 4. How much will be the court charges for mutual divorce in City like Pune? 5. How much a lawyer charge in City like Pune?
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As far the 1st point is concerned she can always appeal in the high court against the ex parte decree. You decree cannot be executed.
Yes you can convert it.
6 months time.
For a mutual consent divorce an agreement has to be drafted which is acceptable to both the parties and based upon which the parties move forward and go ahead for a MCD.
Regards
Around 15 20 thousand for MCD.
1) It would be advisable to go for a mutually consented divorce any time. No doubt, as your lawyer said you can succeed in getting an ex parte divorce. However it can be set aside by your wife later and you will have to litigate all over again. There is no legal risk in not agreeing for a mutual consent divorce.
2) Choice is yours, you can either convert the present petition to a mutually consented petition or withdraw the present petition and file a mutual consent petition.
3) If you withdraw and file fresh it will take another 6 months whereas if you convert, you an apply to getting a waiver of the 6 months cooling off period.
4) Rs. 100/ is the court fee. It should not be confused but with lawyer fee.
5) It is purely subjective. Only the lawyer concerned can help you with this.
Hello,
Yes, inform the court about it on the very next day while you and your wife would be present and the lawyers of both the party inform the court about the same, the court would grant the decree on mutual consent.
Regards
It's better to go for mutual divorce. Exparte is also good but can meet challenged in appellate court. There is a 6 months period for the same. Lawyer charges varies from lawyer to lawyer.
You can convert existing portion of divorce into divorce by mutual consent
2) you need not wait for 6 months
3) since you ha e been fighting contested divorce case for last one year 6 months cooling period can be waived
4( court fees are nominal
5) legal fees vary depending upon the lawyer engaged by you
1. In this scenario it will be wise to let the court pass an ex parte decree when the respondent has not put in appearance despite service.
2. You can always withdraw contested divorce petition and file a fresh petition for mutual consent divorce the very next day.
3. In mutual divorce the court has to wait for 6 months from the date of first motion. This period can also be waived off now but in practice seldom do the trial courts waive it.
1. Going for Mutual Consent Divorce will be BEST. you may ger contested ex parte decree in your favor within 2-3 hearing i.e. 2-4 months but what if she appears in between the proceedings and file an application for setting aside the ex parte order, then the case will take somewhere around 4-6 years,
moreover, now you are OK with her demand, what, if things go complicated at a later stage, therefore, MCD is BEST
2. you have to file a fresh petition for MCD
3. 6 to 18 months starting from the day of the first motion of filing a mutual consent divorce petition, in most cases 6 months
4. Court charges are NIL except for few stamps of approximately Rs. 200-300
5. lawyer's fee also varies, depends upon various factors type of work, the social status of the lawyer, the monetary value of the case, the experience of the lawyer, etc
1. See you can peruse current divorce as it is already at evidence stage though wife can seek permission of court to file reply and contest or.can challange ex-parte divorce . So in that case it is better to file mutual divorce and seek waiver of cooling off period.
2. Given an application to convert current petition into mutual or you can withdraw and file fresh petition for mutual divorce
3. You can file an application to waive the cooling off period.
4 There are no court charges as such only the minimal filing tickets.
5. Lawyer charge shall be based on lawyer to lawyer.
1. if you got expartee divorce then maybe she can Under order 9 rule 13 she may file an application for setting aside exparte decree.
2.to convert contested divorce you need to amend your petitioner from Sec. 13(1) to 13 (B) and withdraw all the adverse allegations by converting it into simple mutual divorce petitioner. Once the amendment is allowed you need to move your evidence affidavit to that effect. The alimony or maintenance can be mentioned in the mutual divorce petitioner which is to be filed after the amendment petitioner is allowed.
3. it may take anything from a minimum of three hearings or 6 months to one year.
4.The cost of filing the petition for divorce is very nominal at around Rs. 300 to 500.
4.It depends lawyer to lawyer about the charges.
1. In exparte divorce the risk is that she may file a set aside petition and the court may set aside the exparte divorce, the whole process may take another six months after which you will be back to square one i.e., to the same starting point.
If it is a mutual consent divorce, you can file MCD case now and after 10 to 15 days, you can file a petition to waive off the cooling period and submit evidence immediately which is called second motion, can get the divorce case disposed within 15 days of filing the petition.
You may decide after analysing pros and cons.
2. Most of the courts do not allow conversion of contested divorce to mutual consent divorce, hence you may have to file a fresh one.
3. Read the first answer above.
4. The court fee will be very minimal but you may hav to enquire about the lawyer fee from your lawyer.
5. Depends on the lawyer there is no fixed fee.
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