Live-in relationships occupy a genuinely odd position in Indian law. They are lawful and protected, but they are not marriage, and the rights that flow from them are narrower than many people assume.
What is settled
- Two consenting adults living together is not an offence, and the Supreme Court has treated the choice as part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.
- A woman in a "relationship in the nature of marriage" falls within the definition of a domestic relationship in the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. She can therefore seek protection orders, residence orders, monetary relief and compensation.
- Children born of a live-in relationship are legitimate for the purpose of inheriting from their parents, and are entitled to maintenance.
What the phrase "in the nature of marriage" requires
In D. Velusamy v. D. Patchaiammal (2010) the Supreme Court indicated that the relationship must resemble marriage: the parties must hold themselves out to society as spouses, be of legal age to marry, be otherwise qualified to marry including being unmarried, and have voluntarily cohabited for a significant period. A brief or casual relationship, or one where a party is already married, may fall outside it.
That is why the evidence of the relationship matters as much as the fact of it. A joint bank account, a joint lease or rent receipts in both names, utility bills, photographs at family functions, letters and cards addressed to both, nominations naming the partner, and messages over a long period, are what establish the relationship in court. The guide on live-in relationship rights in India goes through the Supreme Court decisions and what each of them adds to the test.
What a partner can actually apply for, and where
Almost everything practical flows from the Domestic Violence Act, so it is worth knowing how that application is made. It is an application under Section 12 to the Magistrate, and Section 27 allows it to be filed where the aggrieved person resides or works, where the respondent resides or works, or where the cause of action arose. In Bengaluru that means the Magistrate's court for the area, not the Family Court. Ask for the heads of relief you actually need, because they are separate: a protection order under Section 18, a residence order under Section 19, monetary relief including maintenance under Section 20, and compensation under Section 22. Section 23 lets the Magistrate pass interim and even ex parte orders where the affidavit discloses that violence is likely, which is what makes the Act useful in an emergency, and breach of a protection order is itself an offence under Section 31, punishable with imprisonment up to one year, or fine up to twenty thousand rupees, or both.
You need not go to court alone or first. A Protection Officer can record a Domestic Incident Report and assist with the application, and in Karnataka the Protection Officers are the Women and Child Development Deputy Directors at district level and the Child Development Project Officers at taluk level. Free legal aid is available through the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, and women are entitled to it regardless of income.
One distinction is worth stating plainly, because it costs people time. The maintenance provision in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 that carries forward Section 125 of the old Code speaks of a wife, and live-in partners have repeatedly run into that word. Monetary relief under Section 20 of the Domestic Violence Act does not raise the same difficulty, because it is keyed to a domestic relationship rather than to a marriage. For a live-in partner that is the surer route. Children are on a different footing again: Section 20 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 obliges a Hindu to maintain his or her legitimate or illegitimate children while they are minors, so a child's claim does not depend on the parents' marital status at all.
There is no automatic right of inheritance between live-in partners. If one partner dies without a will, the other generally takes nothing. There is also no divorce-style division of property, and no automatic entitlement to a partner's insurance, gratuity or pension. A will and clear documentation of jointly owned assets are the only practical protection.
Practical protections worth putting in place
- A will, for each partner. This is the single most important step. Under Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 it need only be signed by the testator and attested by two witnesses who saw the signature; registration is optional and is nonetheless worth doing.
- Clear records of contribution to jointly acquired property, and joint ownership where intended.
- Nominations updated on bank accounts, insurance and provident fund.
Some states have recently introduced registration requirements for live-in relationships. Check the position where you live, because the obligations differ.
The clearest example is Uttarakhand, where the Uniform Civil Code enacted by the state in 2024 was brought into force on 27 January 2025 and requires live-in relationships in the state to be registered both when they begin and when they end, with penalties for failure to register. That is a state law and it binds only where the state has enacted it, so the position genuinely differs from one state to the next and is worth checking before a move rather than after.