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In India, unfortunately for husbands, there are no clear-cut rules like maintenance allowed only after 10 years of married life, and so on. This results in an unfortunate situation for Indian husbands that if a marital dispute runs in court for many years, the husband has to bear the cost of wife's maintenance during all this period. Given the slow pace of Indian judiciary in both civil and criminal cases, as of now it is almost a guarantee that a marital dispute in court will continue to run for many years, maybe 5 years at the lower end of range and 7-10 or even more at the upper end of range.
However, Indian courts also apply certain factors to decide on maintenance amount, which is most often a combination of meeting basic needs, and giving same living status/lifestyle to the asking party. While a middle class man may be ordered by court to pay Rs 5000 of maintenance to wife per month, a film star like Om Puri may be asked to pay Rs 2.9 lakh maintenance per month to his wife and son! The logic given in ordering such high maintenance in his case was that his wife and son were used to that lifestyle, and his income was much higher, so the amount was not considered unjust or fanciful.
Over time, we have to bring the above factors like length of marriage, and no-fault of husband into deciding maintenance amounts in India too. Even if it may not happen immediately by amendment to maintenance laws, it is already happening in maintenance decisions where husbands(and their advocates) produce the complete evidence and put forth their arguments forcefully. Later I share many judgments where qualified or previously working wives have been denied maintenance. If it can be done by one person, it can be done by anyone.
Rising incomes, rising maintenance\
According to Wikipedia article on alimony, it is interesting to note that even in US in 19th century, alimony was not awarded often because the incomes were so low.
However, during the period, parties could rarely afford alimony, and so it was rarely awarded by courts. As husbands' incomes increased, and with it the possibility of paying alimony, the awarding of alimony increased, generally because a wife could show a need for ongoing financial support, and the husband had the ability to pay.
So the learning from historical data is when the standard of living and incomes were not that high in US in 19th century, alimony were rarely awarded by courts. As the ability of husbands to pay alimony increased, the demands of alimony from wives also increased. And many husbands were probably not too unwilling to pay also since they had the capacity. The same dynamics continues till even today, in that rising incomes lead to higher alimony awards, and more women file divorces because it's possible to get a good alimony upon divorce. 70% of divorces in US are initiated by women, and one report suggests same percentage to be 85% in India.
Psychology of women who ask for maintenance/alimony
Alimony or maintenance asked by wives is never according to their needs alone, but according to what they can get as per the law. Just like in the US, in India too there is a guideline that a woman needs to be maintained at living standards she was used to while living with husband. The problem in India is that unlike in US, even a woman married for few days can leave the husband for no good reason and file maintenance case upon him!
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