Supreme court has judged a woman cohabiting with a man for a long duration and living with him in the nature of wife is entitled to property rights after his death, like a wife would be. A bench of Justice MY Eqbal and Justice Amitava Roy said continuous cohabitation of a couple would raise the presumption of valid marriage and it would be for the opposite party to prove that they were not legally married. "It is well settled that the law presumes in favour of marriage and against concubinage, when a man and woman have cohabited continuously for a long time. However, the presumption can be rebutted by leading unimpeachable evidence. A heavy burden lies on a party who seeks to deprive the relationship of legal origin," the bench said. I haven’t read full judgment, but I really doubt that … [Read more...] about Lack of legal wedding no bar for ‘live-in’ woman to claim property rights after ‘husband’s’ death
Marriage
How to handle situation when wife files RCR or wants to come back?
Question: Guys how to handle situation when wife files an RCR ? To rejoin or not to rejoin, that is the question Yesterday in family court I saw a ‘play’ being enacted, husband and his lawyer on one side, and on the other side was the wife talking by herself. The wife was saying that she wants to come back -- the word being used was ‘rejoin’. The judge was trying to impress upon husband the necessity to explore all the possibilities including rejoining. Rejoin sounds like a very nice word, but if someone’s coming back can lead to rejoining with misery and life of daily frustrations, then that’s not a rejoining we would like to go for, isn’t it? To give a background of above case which can be similar to many people’s situations, the husband was first to file divorce, then brought … [Read more...] about How to handle situation when wife files RCR or wants to come back?
How to handle false cases from wife who has a boyfriend
In case you face threats or actual legal cases like DV, CrPC 125, 498A, 406 from your wife who also has a boyfriend, the situation can be turned to an advantage, of course only if one is able to get over the shock of the whole fraud which has been perpetrated, and assess things from thereon. The context of this post refers to those marriages where the wife starts to show erratic behaviour etc right in beginning of married life (read Advice to men post for details). Many such women come from feminist/matriarchal families, and if not outright feminist family, then having been raised in an environment of independence and pampering probably. End result is same: their attitude towards men and relationship is nothing normal. What kind of evidence and clues she might have left? Such a … [Read more...] about How to handle false cases from wife who has a boyfriend
Why Indian men should be very careful in filing divorce
To better understand some of the terminology and context used in this post, reading some of the important posts is recommended. Now this post will cover the majority of cases of calls and issues received by men’s rights activists (MRAs) all over India. Almost 80-90% of callers have been into very short marriages, anywhere from 1 year to 3 years where the time wife was in same home as husband maybe anywhere from few weeks, few months, or maximum maybe 1.5 years or so. So even if the marriage happened 3 years back, the time wife stayed with husband maybe 1.5 years or so only. These are just guidelines. The important thing to understand is wife spent a significant time away from husband in initial few years of marriage and it was not due to practical issues related to … [Read more...] about Why Indian men should be very careful in filing divorce
Dowry, Stridhan, Cruelty under 498a, marriage expenses, and more
I haven’t taken any dowry Before people say “I haven’t taken any dowry”, shouldn’t it be clear to know about the keyword dowry. Basically, dowry harassment is the phrase used when women and her in-laws want to do one or more of following: Keep husband under thumb, make him leave his parents (after marriage, of course before marriage nothing of that sort will be said), make him ghar jamai etc. So this can be teach the husband to be a pet, or teach the husband a lesson so he compromises the 498a and takes wife back promising to be loyal slave for rest of married life. The marriage was a pre-planned bomb in form of daughter-in-law which was timed to go off in husband’s house after marriage. After the bomb goes off successfully, not there will be loud noise but property and cash … [Read more...] about Dowry, Stridhan, Cruelty under 498a, marriage expenses, and more
Want to save your property? Oppose Marriage Laws Amendment (2010) bill
Update 3-Mar-2015: There was some news that government may drop marriage amendment bill (which introduces Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage OR IrBM clause), but we cannot be too sure since there seems to be an inexplicable urge behind this bill, presumably to appease the international media that India is not just a women oppressive regime, or a rape and gang-rape country. It’s another matter that rape and other crime statistics are much higher in these developed countries who report the crimes in India. So it’s up to each individual to continue to send speed post/registered letters against this bill, else you might as well lose your property to a woman who made contribution to your life except that she holds a marriage certificate with your name as husband! After sending the … [Read more...] about Want to save your property? Oppose Marriage Laws Amendment (2010) bill