There is no fixed formula and no statutory percentage. Anyone who quotes you a flat number is guessing. Maintenance and alimony are discretionary, decided on the facts of the individual case.
What the court actually weighs
- The income, assets and liabilities of both spouses, and the gap between them
- The standard of living enjoyed during the marriage
- The claimant's reasonable needs, and their own earning capacity and qualifications
- The length of the marriage
- Age, health, and who carries the day-to-day responsibility for the children
Which provision you claim under, because it changes the answer
"Alimony" is not one remedy. The provision you use decides which court hears it, how quickly, and often the figure itself.
- Section 24, Hindu Marriage Act, 1955: maintenance pendente lite and the expenses of the proceeding, claimed inside the pending matrimonial case. It is worded for "the wife or the husband", and the proviso asks the court to dispose of the application within sixty days of service of notice.
- Section 25, Hindu Marriage Act: permanent alimony and maintenance, fixed at the time of the decree or at any time afterwards, and open to variation if circumstances change.
- Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which replaced Section 125 CrPC: a summary secular remedy for a wife, children and parents.
- Section 20 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005: monetary relief, which that Act requires to be adequate, fair, reasonable and consistent with the standard of living the claimant is accustomed to.
- Section 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956: a Hindu wife's right to be maintained, including the right to live separately and still be maintained where there is desertion, cruelty, another wife living, or conversion.
One point that surprises people: under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 the corresponding provisions, Sections 36 and 37, are worded in favour of the wife rather than neutrally, unlike Sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act. The guide to how alimony is decided in India sets these schemes out side by side. All of them, in Bengaluru, are heard by the Family Court, which under Section 7(2) of the Family Courts Act, 1984 also exercises the Magistrate's maintenance jurisdiction.
The income affidavit changed how this works
In Rajnesh v. Neha (2020) the Supreme Court laid down a standard affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities that both sides must file in maintenance proceedings, with directions on when maintenance runs from and how overlapping claims under different statutes are adjusted. In practice this is the centre of the case. Vague financial pleadings get vague orders; a properly documented affidavit with salary slips, bank statements, tax returns and loan records moves the number far more than argument does.
The affidavit is only as good as what is annexed to it. Assemble, for both sides: the last three years of income tax returns with Form 16 or the computation, six to twelve months of salary slips, statements for every bank account and credit card, EPF and PPF statements, loan and EMI records, property documents with the municipal tax receipts, share and mutual fund holdings, vehicle registration, and details of any partnership or business interest. Where a spouse runs a cash business, the GST returns, the rent agreements and the firm's audited accounts do far more work than the declared drawings. Rajnesh also directs that maintenance ordinarily runs from the date of the application, and that overlapping claims under different statutes are to be set off against each other so that the same money is not recovered twice.
Courts have sometimes used roughly 25 percent of the paying spouse's net monthly income as a working reference for ongoing maintenance. It is a reference point that appears in some judgments, not a rule, not a right, and not a ceiling. Do not plan around it.
Interim, permanent, monthly or lump sum
Maintenance can be interim (payable while the case runs) and permanent (fixed at the end). It can be a monthly amount or a one-time lump sum, which many couples prefer because it ends the financial relationship cleanly and removes the risk of chasing arrears for years.
The two are not decided the same way. An interim order is made summarily, on affidavits and documents, sometimes within weeks. The permanent figure is fixed at the end of the case on evidence, and the factors courts weigh for permanent alimony include the length of the marriage, the standard of living the family in fact enjoyed, the conduct of the parties, the age and health of the claimant, and what earning capacity each side is left with. A short marriage between two working professionals and a twenty year marriage where one spouse gave up a career are not comparable cases, and no percentage bridges that gap.
Settle the tax question before you settle the number
This gets asked far too late. A sum received once and for all on the dissolution of the marriage is generally treated differently from a recurring monthly payment, and where property rather than cash is transferred, the treatment differs again. The difference can be worth more than the whole negotiation, so raise it while the settlement is being drafted rather than in the following assessment year. The guide on whether alimony is taxable in India sets out the position and the drafting points that follow from it, and any final settlement should record clearly what the payment is for and who bears any tax on it.
What actually moves the number
Documents, and the credibility of the person who filed them. Where the paperwork is complete, need and capacity are decided quickly. Where it is not, the court looks at the life being lived: rent, school fees, foreign travel, the car, the credit card spend, the standard of living the family in fact enjoyed. A resignation letter dated a fortnight after service of the petition persuades nobody, and courts are entitled to fix maintenance on earning capacity rather than declared earnings.
In a mutual consent divorce
Alimony is whatever both spouses agree. A lump sum, a monthly figure, or nil. What matters is that the agreed terms are written into the settlement the court records. A promise made outside the decree is very hard to enforce; a term recorded in the decree can be executed.