Mutual consent · Contested · NRI
Divorce is hard. The legal part does not have to be.
Fifty minutes with an advocate who answers every question you have, in plain language — then your petition, affidavit and settlement drafted for the court that will hear you.
First motion→Six-month wait→Second motion→Decree·7–11 months in Delhi
Which law applies to you
India has five divorce laws, not one.
Which Act governs your divorce follows the law your marriage was solemnised under — or the Special Marriage Act, if you registered it civilly. The procedure, the waiting period and the court all change with it.
Mutual consent under section 13B: two motions, six months apart. Contested divorce under section 13.
Mutual consent under section 28, on the same two-motion pattern. The Act applies whatever either party's religion.
Talaq, khula and mubarat outside court; a wife's grounds under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939. Triple talaq in one sitting is void and punishable.
Mutual consent under section 10A, which requires two years of separation rather than one.
Mutual consent under section 32B, heard by a Parsi Matrimonial Court with delegates.
Personal law decides the Act. Where you file is decided separately — see your city.
The shape of a matter
A mutual consent divorce has four moments. Here they are.
Under the Hindu Marriage Act, and on the same pattern under the Special Marriage Act. Christian marriages wait two years rather than one before the first motion.
A joint petition under section 13B, with the settlement filed alongside it. Both of you attend, the court satisfies itself the petition is genuine, and your statements are recorded. The hearing itself takes five to fifteen minutes.
Section 13B(2) sets at least six months between the two motions, for the possibility of reconciliation. Nothing is frozen: the separation continues and maintenance under the settlement can begin.
Not before six months and not after eighteen — miss the outer limit and the petition lapses. Both of you attend again, the court confirms consent still stands, and statements are recorded a second time.
If the court is satisfied, the decree of divorce follows. Apply for the certified copy; you will need it for everything afterwards. The range is what Indian courts realistically take, and it moves with the bench.
Where you have lived apart well beyond a year and everything is settled, the six months can be waived — the Supreme Court held in Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur (2017) that it is directory, not mandatory. It is discretionary, and a refused application costs weeks. When a waiver works
How it works
Three steps, and none of them is a form.
Your city, whether it is mutual, and what you have already tried. Nothing is filed and nothing is decided.
Online, at a time you pick. They take you through the questions the court will ask, in the order it asks them.
Petition, affidavit and settlement draft, written for your court. Take them anywhere, or let the firm file them.
What people ask
Not the law in the abstract.
Whether the six months can be waived, what happens to the flat, who the children live with, and how long any of it takes in the court that will hear it.
Three ways in
Petition, affidavit and settlement drafts you complete yourself, with the checklist of what to carry.
Fifty minutes online, every paper drafted for your court afterwards, and two rounds of changes.
The firm conducts it end to end, with counsel appearing in your own city.
A divorce run through a lawyer's office usually costs ₹30,000 to ₹50,000.
Work it out first
Not ready to decide anything
Most people read for weeks before they speak to anybody.
Take the guides, take the calculators, come back when you want to. Nothing here asks for your name.