Maintenance & Alimony

Maintenance and alimony — support claimed or defended, at a flat fee

Maintenance and alimony are the financial support one spouse may be entitled to receive from the other during or after a marriage. Adv. Bhawna Yadav and her team draft your petition or reply, prepare the interim application, file before the correct court, and appear at your initial hearings — all at a flat professional fee of ₹25,000, agreed in writing before we begin. There is no hourly billing, nothing padded on later, and no upselling.

Because this is an ongoing matter rather than a single filing, we are clear from day one about what the flat fee covers and what a later stage, if your matter needs one, would cost. You are never surprised.

What maintenance and alimony actually mean

The two words are used loosely, so it helps to separate them.

Maintenance is ongoing financial support — usually a monthly amount — that one spouse pays another who is unable to reasonably support themselves. It exists so that a separation or a broken marriage does not leave a dependent spouse, and often the children, without means.

Alimony is the term more commonly used around divorce. It covers two things: interim support paid while the case is being fought, and a permanent arrangement settled when the marriage is finally dissolved. That permanent arrangement can be a lump sum or a continuing payment, depending on what the court considers just.

In real cases the two overlap, and the same person may have a claim under more than one law at the same time. Part of our job is to work out the strongest, cleanest route for you rather than filing everything everywhere.

Interim support and a final figure

Most maintenance matters have two moments that decide how they feel to live through.

Interim support, ordered early

The first is interim support — money ordered soon after filing, so a dependent spouse and children are not left stranded while the main case drags on. Courts recognise that a person cannot wait years for a final decision to buy food, pay rent or keep a child in school, so they can fix a reasonable amount for the duration of the proceedings, along with the costs of the case itself.

For the person claiming, getting this right at the start changes everything — it is the difference between fighting a long case from a position of stability and fighting it from desperation. For the person paying, it is where an unrealistic demand needs to be met calmly with the truth about what can actually be afforded. We press hard on this stage either way, because so much of the eventual outcome is shaped here.

The final figure

The second is the final determination, where the court fixes support on a fuller picture: the income and reasonable needs of both spouses, their standard of living during the marriage, their responsibilities toward children and others, and their conduct where the law lets it in. This is the figure people live with for a long time, and it deserves careful, evidence-backed argument rather than a number pulled from the air.

We handle both stages. We press for interim relief where you are owed it, and we build the case for a fair final figure — whichever side of it you are on.

When the other side does not pay

Sometimes an order is made and simply ignored. An order for maintenance is meant to be enforceable, and the law provides ways to recover unpaid amounts. Enforcement is its own stage rather than part of this flat fee, but if you reach that point we will explain your options honestly and quote that work in advance, so you always know where you stand before anything is filed.

Our flat fee and what it covers

The fee is ₹25,000, flat. For that single figure we:

• study your marriage, your income and dependents, and what a fair number looks like;
• draft your maintenance or alimony petition, or your reply if you are the one responding;
• prepare the interim application so support can be sought or resisted early;
• file before the court that has jurisdiction over your matter; and
• appear and argue at your initial hearings on the application.

We tell you this fee in writing before any work begins, and it does not move. Because maintenance is an ongoing matter, some cases run on well beyond the initial hearings. If yours does, we tell you that honestly at the outset and quote any further stage to you in advance, in writing, so nothing lands on you by surprise.

That honesty is the whole point. Some firms quote low, then let a maintenance matter turn into an open meter that runs for years. We do the opposite: one clear fee for the defined work, a straight word about what your matter actually needs, and no pressure to buy more than that. We respect your time, and we respect our own effort enough to price it plainly.

Who this is for

Maintenance and alimony cut both ways, and we act for both. People come to us in situations like these:

• A spouse left without support — often a wife, sometimes a husband — who cannot reasonably maintain themselves and needs a proper claim filed and pressed.
• A parent carrying the children who needs support secured for the household while a separation or divorce is worked out.
• A spouse facing an inflated demand who wants their true income and obligations put honestly before the court, so the figure ordered is fair rather than punitive.
• A husband seeking support from a wife who is the earning spouse — a claim the law does allow, and one we frame on its real facts.
• An NRI or a spouse living abroad, on either side of the matter, who cannot run around courts in India in person.
• Someone already in a divorce who needs the maintenance or alimony question handled properly alongside it.

If your situation is not on this list, it does not mean we cannot help — it means you should talk to us so we can tell you exactly where you stand. You can book a consultation for a straight reading before you commit to anything.

Framed for either spouse — fairly

We do not treat maintenance as a formula to inflate or a claim to crush. The law asks a fair question: what can one spouse reasonably afford, and what does the other genuinely need. Our job is to answer it truthfully for the side we act for.

For a spouse claiming support, that means building a full, honest picture of your needs and the other spouse's real capacity to pay — including income that does not always show up on paper. For a spouse paying, it means resisting exaggeration with facts, so you are held to a figure you can actually sustain rather than one designed to hurt. Either way, credibility with the court is worth more than a headline number, and we protect yours.

What you get with Adv. Bhawna Yadav and her team

You get a named advocate who owns your matter from start to finish — not a file passed between strangers. You get a petition or reply drafted on your real facts, an interim application prepared so the early stage is not lost, filing before the right court, and argument at your initial hearings. You get the order, and what it means for you, explained in plain English or Hindi. And you get one flat fee, fixed in writing, with no upselling behind it.

Everything you share is covered by advocate–client confidentiality from the first conversation. A maintenance dispute is personal and often painful, and it is handled with the discretion and calm it deserves.

How working with us goes

We keep it simple and human, because a support dispute is stressful enough.

First, we speak with you — by call, video or email — and take down the essentials: the marriage, the separation if there is one, incomes, dependents, and what you are hoping for. We ask for the documents that matter and tell you clearly what we need and why. Then we draft your petition or reply, prepare the interim application, file before the court that can hear it, and appear to argue at the initial hearings.

Throughout, we keep you informed in language you understand, and when the court makes an order we explain what it means in practice — what will be paid, by whom, and what happens next. You will not have to chase us for updates or decode legal jargon. That is our part of the bargain. Because the matter is ongoing, we also tell you honestly, at each turn, whether the next step is worth taking — rather than filing for the sake of it.

Available across India and for NRIs and clients abroad

The core laws on maintenance and alimony are central legislation and apply the same way in every Indian state, so it does not matter which city or state your matter belongs to — we can act. Our chamber is in Bhopal, but our clients are all over the country and beyond it.

We regularly act for NRIs and clients living abroad on both sides of a maintenance matter — the spouse seeking support who has moved overseas, and the spouse abroad who is facing a claim in India. You do not need to fly down to instruct us. We take your instructions remotely, in English or Hindi, keep you updated at every step, and handle the court appearances here. Distance should never decide whether a fair result is within reach.

Why choose us

• A named advocate. You deal with Adv. Bhawna Yadav and her team, not a faceless desk.
• One flat fee. ₹25,000, agreed in writing, covering drafting, filing and your initial hearings.
• No upselling. We quote one fee and tell you honestly what your matter actually needs — nothing more.
• Fair to both sides. We act as readily for the spouse resisting an unfair claim as for the one making it.
• English or Hindi. We work and explain in the language you are comfortable with.

If a full separation is on the table, the maintenance question often sits alongside a mutual consent divorce, and we can advise on how the two fit together.

The legal basis

Maintenance can be claimed under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), whose Section 144 (earlier Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure) provides a quick, secular remedy for the maintenance of a wife, children and parents who cannot maintain themselves. Many people still search by the old "Section 125" number, which is why we note it alongside the current one.

Where the marriage is governed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, support around a matrimonial case runs through two provisions: Section 24, which allows interim maintenance and the expenses of the proceedings while the case is pending, and Section 25, which allows permanent alimony and maintenance when the case is decided — either of which the court may grant to either spouse. Support may also arise under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1955, the Special Marriage Act, 1954, and, for monetary relief in matters involving domestic violence, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, depending on your circumstances.

We work out which law gives you the strongest, cleanest claim or defence, and we build the matter on the law as it stands today.