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For men whose wife has left them but hasn't yet filed any cases, there is an advanced technique discussed sometimes when a few men go into a huddle or sit around a table discussing their life and situation.
The concept is called "DV House". What it means is quite simple. Since the maintenance amount ordered will be to enable a wife to have same living standard when she was with husband, why not be pro-active and lower your standard of living so as to lower future possible maintenance amount!
So if your wife has left you, and even though there is some talk of her coming back going on, you are aware of her intentions and a real possibility of a future DV or even CrPC 125 case being filed upon you. If you were living in a Rs 20,000 rented apartment when wife had left you, then she may very well claim her right to a similar standard of living in her application. She may then demand for a similar house, or rent amount for a similar house, under her DV or CrPC 125 complaint.
It's not going to be a pretty outcome. Paying huge rent to wife for her pleasure of living separately!
So what is suggested sometimes is for the man to take up a rather small house/apartment on rent, and start living there. Let's call this place as "DV House". As and when the DV case is filed, or just plain discussions with wife are going on about her coming back, invite her to this new "DV House" to rejoin you in matrimonial life. Usually wives want to come back to try and file a proper case next time they leave you finally and for good, in case the first time they made some mistakes or didn't have enough evidence to back their allegations. Now if she indeed comes back, even if she files a case, her maintenance amount will be based on the standard of living in the "DV House" and not based on your Rs 20,000 per month rented house of earlier era. If she doesn't come back, usually she would have lost time and wouldn't have any good allegations to make a successful case against you. In both situations, you win and the cost is merely living in relative inconvenience for a few months. As the time progresses and if the wife doesn't file any complaint, her future possible application will become quite weak in eyes of law due to long passage of time between reported domestic violence and the time she had last stayed with you. So you can always shift to a more comfortable accommodation in future when you are confident that her plans have been successfully thwarted!
Other benefits of "DV House"
Saving rent on house: Let's say you are living in a house with Rs 20,000 per month rent. Wife leaves you. She tries to complain to police or maybe files a CrPC 125 case. A few months later she says that she wants to come back. You take her back in the home. Two months later, she files a DV case on you and gets a protection order and a residence order on the house. Now you have to leave the house (fearing violation of protection order), find another place on rent, and she can continue to stay in the house while you pay Rs 20,000 per month rent for her exclusive use of the house!
If instead you had taken a DV house at 5,000 rent per month and invited her back there instead, your loss will be limited to a Rs 5,000 per month only. But more likely, the whole game will change once she realizes that you are calling her to another, much smaller house, so things will not even go the original route she had thought of.
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