Mother entitled to divorcee daughter's alimony till her death: Madras High Court

Mother entitled to divorcee daughter's alimony till her death: Madras High Court

The mother is entitled to the maintenance amount till the daughter's death as per the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, the court said.

Published: 29th April 2023 04:23 PM | Last Updated: 29th April 2023 04:41 PM | 

Madras High Court (File Photo | EPS)

By R Sivakumar

Express News Service

CHENNAI: A divorced woman's mother is entitled to the accrued arrears of her daughter's alimony, Madras High Court ruled.

The recent Madras High Court ruling came on a petition filed by a man contending that his mother-in-law is not entitled to claim the arrears of alimony running to Rs 6.37 lakh which he owed to the woman he divorced.

The court held that the mother is entitled to the alimony due for the daughter, till the time of the latter's death, as per the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act.

The case relates to one Saraswathi. She was married to the petitioner, Annadurai in 1991. Later they got separated. Annadurai filed a divorce petition in Cheyyur Sub-court and got a divorce decree by an order on January 20, 2005. Saraswathi filed a petition seeking maintenance from her husband before the judicial magistrate court in Madurantagam which ordered to pay her Rs 7,500 per month.

In 2021, Saraswathi filed a petition seeking arrears of Rs. 6.37 lakh. In the meantime, she passed away on June 5, 2021. Subsequently, her mother Jaya filed a petition to implead her in the case and permit her to recover the arrears of maintenance. The judicial magistrate's order was in her favour since she is the legal heir of deceased Saraswathi who had no children.

Challenging this order, Annadurai approached the Madras High Court contending that his mother-in-law was not entitled to claim the arrears of maintenance amount, for which, only the divorced wife is the rightful person.

In his order, Justice V Sivagnanam said, “In view of section 15 (1) (c) of the Hindu Succession Act, the mother is entitled to the property of her daughter. In this case, the arrears of maintenance accrued till the death of her daughter Saraswathi.”

Sivagnanam held, “In so far as the arrears of maintenance, which have accrued, it would be in the nature of the property which is heritable but a right to future maintenance amount is, however, not transferable or heritable by virtue of section 6 (dd) of the Transfer of Property Act.”

When the spouses have ceased to be husband and wife due to the dissolution of the marriage, the proprietary right of them gets affected. According to section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act, the property of female Hindu shall go to firstly the sons and daughters and then to the husband; however, when they do not remain husband and wife, the mutual rights of inheritance of each other’s property on the death got extinguished, the judge explained quoting certain orders of the Supreme Court and other courts.

Holding that there is no infirmity in the order passed by the judicial magistrate, the judge said there is no reason to interfere with the impugned order and no merit in the criminal revision petition of Annadurai.