India's family law landscape is plural and complex — governed by personal law statutes that differ by religion (the Hindu Marriage Act, the Muslim Personal Law, the Indian Christian Marriage Act, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act) alongside the secular Special Marriage Act, and overlaid with the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, the Guardians and Wards Act, the Juvenile Justice Act for adoption, and the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act. This legal plurality means that the applicable law and the available remedies depend heavily on the parties' religion, the nature of their marriage, and the specific relief being sought.
GP's Family Law practice covers the full range of matrimonial and family disputes — from the uncontested divorce where the parties have agreed on all terms and need their agreement implemented correctly, through the bitterly contested custody dispute where the child's welfare requires immediate court intervention, to the NRI family matter where the parties are in different countries and the proceedings must be managed across jurisdictions. The common thread across all of these is GP's commitment to resolving family matters as efficiently and with as little additional distress as the situation allows — while being prepared to fight with full force when the client's situation demands it.
For NRI families — Indian nationals who live in Australia, Singapore, the UAE, or the UK and who face matrimonial or custody disputes that span international borders — GP provides the specific capability that the situation requires. The Hague Convention on child abduction, the recognition of foreign decrees in India, the jurisdictional questions that arise when one party is in India and another is overseas, and the management of parallel proceedings in multiple jurisdictions — these are the specific challenges that NRI family disputes present, and they are challenges that GP's corridor expertise addresses directly.
Each sub-practice is led by a family law advocate with specific expertise in that area — with particular depth in NRI matters, complex asset disputes, and situations requiring urgent court intervention.
Mutual consent divorce — the fastest and least distressing route where both parties agree. Contested divorce — fault-based petitions under the Hindu Marriage Act and other personal laws, defended divorce, and all associated interim relief. Mediation for divorce where appropriate, and full Family Court litigation where necessary. NRI divorce — managing Indian proceedings for parties overseas.
Learn More →Interim maintenance under Section 24 HMA and Section 125 CrPC — the immediate financial relief that cannot wait for the divorce proceedings to conclude. Permanent alimony upon divorce. Maintenance revision where circumstances have changed. Child maintenance. For NRI matters — the enforcement of Indian maintenance orders overseas and the challenge to foreign maintenance orders in Indian proceedings.
Learn More →Custody and guardianship applications before the Family Court and the High Court. Interim custody — the immediate application that protects the child's living situation while the dispute proceeds. International custody disputes — where a child has been taken overseas or where parents are in different countries. Child recovery — Habeas Corpus petitions and Hague Convention proceedings. The welfare of the child is the paramount consideration in every custody case we handle.
Learn More →Protection orders, residence orders, monetary relief, and custody orders under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. Emergency protection orders where the situation requires immediate action. Section 498A IPC defence — for husbands and their families facing what are sometimes false or exaggerated domestic violence allegations. Safe exit assistance — practical and legal support for women seeking to leave a violent household.
Learn More →The specific family law challenges that arise when one or both spouses are overseas — jurisdictional questions about which country's courts have jurisdiction, the validity in India of a foreign divorce decree, the enforcement of foreign maintenance and custody orders, the challenge to a foreign decree that is contrary to Indian public policy, and the management of parallel proceedings in two countries simultaneously. GP's NRI family law practice covers Australia, Singapore, UAE, and UK family disputes with Indian connections.
Learn More →The division of assets acquired during and before the marriage — the matrimonial home, investments, business interests, and inherited property. India does not have a community property law, but the courts have developed a substantial jurisprudence on irretrievable breakdown settlements and the financial entitlements of spouses. Injunctions against disposal of matrimonial assets. Stridhan recovery. Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements under Indian law.
Learn More →Domestic adoption under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act and the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) framework under the Juvenile Justice Act. Inter-country adoption — the CARA registration process, the Home Study Report, the matching and placement procedure, and the court order that completes the adoption. For NRI adoptive parents in Australia, Singapore, UAE, and UK — the country-specific receiving country requirements alongside the Indian adoption process.
Learn More →India's family law is not a single statute — it is a plural system in which the applicable law depends on the parties' religion. Hindus (including Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists) are governed by the Hindu Marriage Act 1955. Muslims are governed by Muslim personal law (Shariat) for divorce, with DMIOA providing for maintenance. Christians are governed by the Indian Christian Marriage Act and the Indian Divorce Act. Parsis are governed by the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act. Parties who marry under the Special Marriage Act (including inter-faith couples) are governed by that Act. The grounds for divorce, the procedure, the maintenance entitlement, and the applicable personal law for children all differ across these frameworks. GP's family law practice covers all personal law frameworks — and advises on which framework applies where there is ambiguity (as there often is in inter-faith or NRI marriages).
Family law matters involve the most personal aspects of a client's life — their marriage, their children, their finances, and the circumstances of their domestic life. GP treats every family law matter with the same strict confidentiality that applies to commercial and criminal matters — and specifically does not discuss client family matters with anyone beyond the direct legal team engaged on the matter. For clients who are public figures, business leaders, or whose family disputes might attract media attention, GP's confidentiality protocols include specific measures to prevent any information about the proceedings from reaching public attention during or after the matter.
Family law emergencies — a spouse who has taken the children and left for another country, a woman who needs a protection order tonight, a man who has been served with a Section 498A FIR and needs to understand his rights immediately, an NRI who has discovered that divorce proceedings have been filed in India without their knowledge — do not happen during office hours. GP's family law team maintains emergency availability for situations where the clock is running and the first decision must be made immediately. Call us at any hour. We will listen, advise, and act as quickly as the situation requires — with the sensitivity that family situations demand and the legal precision that they require.
NRI family disputes require understanding the legal system in which the overseas party lives — whether a UK decree is enforceable in India, how Australian family law determines jurisdiction, what a UAE talaq means for Indian proceedings, and how Singapore's court would approach a custody dispute with Indian elements. GP's corridor expertise provides practitioners who genuinely understand these overseas legal systems — not from research, but from practice. The NRI client's family dispute is managed with full understanding of both sides of the border.
When a matrimonial dispute involves a business, a significant investment portfolio, or assets held in complex corporate structures, the financial analysis required to value and divide those assets is not a task for a general-purpose financial expert who must be briefed from scratch on the case. GP's forensic accounting practice — which works on tax litigation, insolvency, and fraud matters involving exactly these asset structures — provides the financial analysis for matrimonial property disputes from within the same firm, with the same understanding of the case, on the same instruction.
The matrimonial dispute that involves Section 498A IPC allegations, domestic violence proceedings, and divorce proceedings simultaneously — the most common pattern in contested Indian matrimonial cases — requires family law expertise and criminal law expertise in the same engagement. GP's family law team and criminal defence team work together on these matters, ensuring that the positions taken in the family court proceedings are consistent with the defence strategy in the criminal proceedings and that no statement made in one forum undermines the position in the other.
Complete confidentiality maintained. All client identities and details protected.
Advised a UK-based father of Indian origin whose wife had taken their two children (aged 4 and 7) to Mumbai during what was represented as a family visit — and then refused to return. The father had custody rights under a UK court order. GP filed a Habeas Corpus petition before the Bombay High Court seeking the production of the children and their return to the father's care pending the resolution of the custody dispute. The petition was supported by the UK custody order, the children's British passports, the school records in the UK, and the evidence of the mother's deception in obtaining the father's consent to the trip. The Bombay High Court issued notice to the mother on the day of filing, heard the matter on an expedited basis, and directed that the children be produced before the court and that the mother not remove them from Mumbai without the court's permission. The children were subsequently returned to the UK under a negotiated consent order providing for regular India visits to the mother.
Advised the wife in a contested matrimonial dispute involving the division of significant business assets — the husband's 40% shareholding in a private manufacturing company valued at his own estimate of Rs.12 crore, a commercial property held in the husband's parents' names but which the wife contended was matrimonial property, and a portfolio of mutual fund investments. GP engaged GP's forensic CA team to conduct an independent valuation of the manufacturing business — using a combination of book value, earnings multiple, and comparable transaction analysis — which produced a value of Rs.18.4 crore, significantly higher than the husband's estimate. The forensic valuation was the basis on which mediation was conducted. The parties reached a settlement under which the wife received Rs.8.4 crore in a combination of cash and property — materially more than would have been available without the forensic analysis. The divorce was obtained by mutual consent following the financial settlement.
Advised an Australian resident Indian couple through the complete inter-country adoption process — from their initial registration with CARA through to the Bombay Family Court adoption order and the subsequent Australian visa application. GP managed the complete Indian side of the process: the CARA registration and eligibility certificate, the Specialised Adoption Agency matching process, the Pre-Adoption Foster Care period, the filing of the adoption petition before the Family Court, and the obtaining of the adoption order and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) documentation for the child. GP coordinated simultaneously with the Australian immigration adviser on the Australian side — ensuring that the Indian adoption order was in the form required by Australian immigration law for recognition and that the visa application was filed promptly after the court order. The adoption was completed within 22 months of initial CARA registration — faster than the typical inter-country adoption timeline for Australian applicants.
The practice team includes advocates with regular Family Court appearance experience across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai — as well as specific experience in Bombay High Court matrimonial matters, inter-country adoption proceedings, and Habeas Corpus petitions for child recovery. For NRI matters, the family law team works directly with GP's corridor specialists for Australia, Singapore, UAE, and UK.
For high-value matrimonial property disputes, the family law team draws on GP's forensic accounting practice for business valuation, asset tracing, and income reconstruction — providing the financial analysis that transforms the negotiation and litigation of matrimonial settlements.
The jurisdictional rules for Indian courts in NRI matrimonial matters, the recognition of foreign divorce decrees in India, the Indian court's approach to foreign custody orders, and the specific steps NRIs should take when a matrimonial dispute begins — whether they are in India or overseas.
Read Guide →The Section 24 interim maintenance application — the most important early financial relief available in divorce proceedings — and how courts determine the amount, the income evidence required, the time frame, and the factors that accelerate or delay the order.
Read Guide →Whether you are contemplating divorce, need interim maintenance, face a custody dispute, require a protection order, are dealing with an NRI family matter, or need advice on adoption — our family law team is available to speak immediately. Family situations do not wait for appointments.
All communications are strictly confidential. Family matters are handled with complete discretion.