Earning Wife Has A Right To Get Alimony: Bombay High Court

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that a working woman has the right to get alimony from her husband after divorce. The court was hearing a petition filed by a man against the decision of a lower court, asking him to pay Rs 15,000 every month in alimony to his wife.

Justice Urmila Joshi Phalke rejected the man's petition, saying the court finds the man's claims "invalid" after considering several factors.

In this case, the man is a resident of Nagpur, while the woman is from Wardha.

After their divorce, the Wardha Sessions Court had approved the alimony for the woman.

The man, in his petition, had mentioned that his former wife (a physiotherapist) is earning enough to take care of herself and their two children. "There is no need for the alimony," he had said.

Earlier this year, the Delhi High Court had delivered a similar verdict, saying that a woman's decision to leave her job to take care of her child does not count as voluntary unemployment and she would be entitled to alimony. The court also stressed that it is not the wife's earning capacity, but her actual income, that must be considered while determining the maintenance amount.

The high court was hearing a petition by the woman's estranged husband, challenging a 2023 court order to pay Rs 7,500 each to the woman and their six-year-old son. The husband said he was an advocate at a district court and earns only Rs 10,000 - Rs 15,000. He said his estranged wife was highly educated and was earning Rs 40,000-Rs 50,000 a month before she quit her teaching job.