This is one of the most useful and most under-used provisions in matrimonial practice. You do not have to wait for the final decree to get support.
Section 24, Hindu Marriage Act
Where either the wife or the husband has no independent income sufficient for their support and the necessary expenses of the proceeding, the court may order the other spouse to pay the expenses of the proceeding and a monthly sum during the case. Note that it is worded neutrally: a husband without means can apply, though courts scrutinise earning capacity closely.
The provision carries its own timeline. The proviso to Section 24 says the application should, as far as possible, be disposed of within sixty days from the date of service of notice on the other spouse. Section 26, which deals with maintenance and education of the children pending the proceeding, carries the same sixty day proviso, and the third proviso to Section 144(1) BNSS does the same for interim maintenance before the Magistrate. None of them is mandatory, but all three are worth citing on the record when the matter is being pushed date after date. The guide to interim maintenance under Section 24 also draws the distinction that trips people up: an ad interim order is the stop-gap the court makes on the first few dates, and the interim order is the considered one made after both affidavits are in.
Ask for a figure, and show your working
The commonest reason an interim application produces a disappointing number is that it asked for a round figure and gave the court nothing to test it against. Break the claim down and annex proof of each line: rent or the EMI, groceries and utilities, school and tuition fees with the receipts, transport, medical and insurance premiums, domestic help, and any loan you are servicing. A claim of a specific sum, supported item by item, is far harder for the other side to attack than a lump demand, and it gives the judge something to work from on a crowded board where the application will get fifteen minutes, not an hour.
Ask in the same application for arrears from the date of filing, for the expenses of the proceeding, and for a direction on the mode of payment, meaning a bank transfer to a named account by a stated day of each month. Vague orders to "pay maintenance" are the ones that later need enforcement.
| Provision | Who may claim | Forum |
|---|---|---|
| Section 24, Hindu Marriage Act | Either spouse, pending the proceeding | The court hearing the matrimonial case |
| Section 144 BNSS (formerly 125 CrPC) | Wife, children, parents | Magistrate |
| Section 20, Domestic Violence Act | Aggrieved person | Magistrate |
| Section 18, HAMA 1956 | Hindu wife | Civil court |
| Section 36, Special Marriage Act | Wife, pending the proceeding | The court hearing the case |
The parallel routes
- Section 144 BNSS (formerly Section 125 CrPC), where the Magistrate can order interim maintenance while the application is pending
- Section 23 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, for interim and ex parte orders including monetary relief
- Section 18, Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, for a wife's right to be maintained
These can run together. Courts adjust the amounts so nothing is recovered twice, which is exactly what Rajnesh v. Neha (2020) laid down guidelines for.
Rajnesh v. Neha directs that maintenance is ordinarily awarded from the date of the application. Every month you delay filing is a month you are unlikely to recover. And file the affidavit of disclosure properly: bank statements, salary slips, tax returns, EPF records, credit card statements. Interim applications are decided summarily, so the party with documents usually wins the number.
Litigation expenses are separate
Section 24 covers the expenses of the proceeding, not only living costs. If you cannot fund the case, ask for this expressly. It is routinely overlooked in the application and then cannot be argued later.
If the other side hides income
Courts are alive to sudden resignations, salary reductions and cash businesses. Judges are entitled to draw adverse inferences from non-disclosure, and can look at lifestyle, property, foreign travel and standard of living rather than the declared figure alone.
There are procedural levers as well, and they are under-used. You can apply for discovery and production of specific documents, ask the court to summon the employer's records or the bank statements of a named account, and press for the affidavit of assets and liabilities to be filed on oath before the application is heard rather than after. Where the spouse is a partner or a director, the firm's returns and the company's filings are public or obtainable. A well-aimed summons to a third party changes the disclosure picture faster than three hearings of argument.
Overlap, and the running total
Because the same person may be paying under Section 24, under the domestic violence proceeding and under Section 144 BNSS, keep a single running statement of what has been ordered under each and what has actually been paid. Courts adjust for overlap, but only if somebody puts the arithmetic in front of them, and the party who maintains that statement is invariably believed over the party who does not. The broader picture of how these remedies fit together is set out in the guide on alimony and maintenance law as it stands in 2026.
If payments then stop, the interim order is enforceable in its own right and you do not have to wait for the final decree to act on it. The guide on recovering unpaid maintenance sets out the warrant, attachment and salary deduction routes, and the time limits that apply to each.