I am an NRI having permanent residence in Jaipur. My daughter was married in Dec 2010 to my son in law in Jaipur as per Hindu rituals (both are Hindu). My son inlaw had been living in UK for last 4 years at the time of marriage and his parents at Hyderabad. Soon after marriage both shifted to UK and lived peacefully in UK. My daughter also started earning and both together bought a house there and my daughter also got Resident Permit there. In the fourth year of marriage differences started coping up and he started mentally torturing her. Even talking with office colleague was seen was him as flirting. Finally in October 2014 he forcefully sent her back to our house in Jaipur. He refused to give any maintenance to her and kept her all belongings, Jewelry and all certificates with him and refused to return them. Even a joint account where my daughter's salary was kept also emptied by him.My daughter earned some money by working and Jaipur and went to UK to live separately and started some temporary jobs there. My son in law approached us after 10 months for Mutual Divorce, but refused to give any monitory returns. On our refusal, he is threatening to file divorce in Hyderabad and get ex-parte divorce. My question is: 1. Can he file divorce in Hyderabad, when Marriage took place in Jaipur and both are permanent residents of UK. 2. If he can then can he send divorce notice to her at my address at Jaipur. 3. If we refuse to accept the notice as our daughter is not there, will it lead to her not appearing for court hearing and can family court of Hyderabad issue ex-parte decree Regards and thanks,
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1) divorce can be filed in Hyderabad as he must be having residence in Hyderabad
2) if his wife is residing abroad notice has to be sent to UK
3) you can refuse to accept notice in Jaipur and mention daughter is in UK
4) court will not pass ex parts decree
Hi, as per Hindu Marriage Act, the petition for divorce can be filled by the either of the parties where marriage is taken place or where parties are last live together as husband and wife.
2. For your caution he may file a petition for divorce in the Hydrabad stating that both of them are living together in Hyderbad so even though your daughter is not resided in jaipur and it is my advice if you received the summons from the court then take the summons on behalf of your daughter and contest the case on merits or otherwise your daughter will be in trouble.
3. Once you received the summons then file a transfer petition in Supreme Court.
1. To preempt an ex-parte decree being passed by the court your daughter can either unilaterally file for divorce at her place, or she may apply for transfer of case to her place. Your daughter is at liberty to sue her husband for maintenance at her place, apart from availing the other legal remedies to which she is entitled under the law.
2. Legally speaking, divorce proceedings can be initiated only in Jaipur i.e where the marriage took place.
3. The divorce notice can be sent by the court to your address.
4. Refusal to accept the court notice will make an ex-parte decree imminent.
I received three replies, but unfortunately all three replies are contradicting to each other and increased my confusion. Please note that: 1. Marriage took place in Jaipur, last they both lived together was in UK. Both are living in UK for last 4 years, Jaipur House is in my name and Hyderabad House is in his father's name. He has at most lived for 30 days in a year in India for last 10 years. He may be having some flat on his name in Hyderabad but never lived there and he is probably using that address. Both are now living in UK. 2. Next two replies are conflicting, whether we should receive or not the court notice. Kindly clarify. 3. What trouble Mr. Bhartiya is indicating? At worst it can be divorce without maintenance or any criminal offence? 4. My daughter has also filed a DV case against him in May 2015 for mental torture, but court has not yet taken any action on that. Can we use it to counter his one-sided attitude and contest the case?
1) your son in law permanent address in passport and other documents would be of Hyderabad
2) your son in law temporary address is of UK where he had gone for work purposes . Hence petition can be filed in Hyderabad
3) you should not receive court notice if your daughter is in UK at present . Keep a watch on court proceedings in Hyderabad
4) you can contest divorce case . Contested cases take 5 years to be disposed of
1. Can he file divorce in Hyderabad, when Marriage took place in Jaipur and both are permanent residents of UK.
2. If he can then can he send divorce notice to her at my address at Jaipur.
3. If we refuse to accept the notice as our daughter is not there, will it lead to her not appearing for court hearing and can family court of Hyderabad issue ex-parte decree?
For all the above questions, since the marriage has not taken place at Hyderabad, nor they both lived or last resided together in Hyderabad nor she is living at Hyderabad now, the divorce case intended to be filed a t Hyderabad by him will be barred by jurisdiction. If somehow he manages to file a case at Hyderabad by bribing the corrupt court officials and sends a summons to your Jaipur address or to her present address, accept the summons from court, get a power of attorney deed executed by yor daughter in your favor or somebody who will be able to travel to Hyderabad to attend the court for this case and i the first appearance itself an application to reject the case can be filed mentioning jurisdictional issue. The court if satisfied with the documentary evidences provided for your claim , may reject the divorce case.
since your daughter has already initiated a DV case against him elsewhere, the details of the same also can be provided to prove the jurisdictional issue. Suppose the court is rejecting the application for rejecting the case, you may prefer a revision against it before the high court and fight to get the cae rejected.
In fact she can file a domestic violence case and divorce or maintenance suit in UK itself based on the joint ownership of the property held in UK as well as her citizenship status. This will bring to the edge of the seat and may come to a negotiable terms when being attacked from all corners.
1. Divorce can be filed either in Jaipur or UK. To initiate the divorce proceedings in UK your daughter has to be either a citizen of UK, or have a residence in UK as on the date of filing of divorce.
2. If you do not receive the court notice the court will strike out your right to defence, to restore which you will have to go to HC and possibly the SC. The entire exercise undertaken by you to have the right restored will be futile if the HC and SC rule against you. So it is in your interest to receive the court notice and then chalk out your next course of action.
3. You are right that in the worst scenario it will be divorce without maintenance. No criminal proceedings can be launched.
4. It has been only 2-3 months since your daughter filed the DV case. It will be decided in due course of time by the court. DV case has no legal bearing on any other case which your daughter or her husband may file.
1. Technically he can not file case in Hyderabad unless he makes a statements that they last resided together therein. it is a fit case wherein you can apply from transfer of suit from Hyderabad to Jaipur.
2. Since notice is Issued accept it and then file transfer petition in SC.
3. Do not refuse notice as refusal of notice is good service. Only if the postal man agrees to make note that ' addressee left; then only refuse to accept.
1. He can file the divorce suit any where he feels like but your daughter can easily get the same transferred to Jaipur by filing an application before the Supreme Court,
2. Yes, he can send the notice to her at your Jaipur address where he lived as per her last known address,
3.In that case he will publish the notice in two Newspapers of Jaipur. If your daughter fails to appear before the Court, it will be heard ex-parte,
4. Refusing to receive notice to avoid legal proceeding is not a good idea.
1. As informed in my earlier post, he can file the suit at Hyderabad but your daughter can get it transferred to your place where you can attend the case after availing POA from your wife,
2.You can ask the peon to mention that your daughter does not stay with you. In that case it will be treated as bad service and he will be directed tom publish the notice in two local Newspapers of Jaipur wherein she had her last known address. Alternatively, you can receive the notice and file a transfer application before Supreme Court for transferring the case to Jaipur which will be granted in favour of the wife. If the suit is transferred to jaipur her husband will be in trouble and you can get the suit rejected or dragged as per your wish,
3. I do not see any additional trouble for your daughter, Rather her husband may face trouble if she lodges 498A complaint,
4.Yes, you should file all such cases for getting justice.
Jurisdiction for filing divorce is decided on three grounds namely:-
1. Place of marriage (in your case is Jaipur)
2. Where the couple last resided together (in your case it's UK)
3, where wife is currently staying. (In your case it's UK)
The husband cannot file divorce petition in Hyderabad since that court doesn't have the jurisdiction to entertain the petition. He will have to file it in Jaipur Family Court. Further he can send the summons at your place in Jaipur since wife is in UK. He can get exparte order if she doesn't appear in the court. But wife can always contest later on.
If there marriage is registered then they can get divorced in UK if they want.
Regds,
Adv. Payal
