Special Marriage Act: Only wife entitled to permanent alimony & maintenance

Children of marriages under this Act are not entitled to a share in ancestral property, only to parents' self-owned or inherited property

The estranged wife of a leading industrialist is currently seeking legal counsel regarding her alimony rights, according to media reports. While the wife is Parsi, the husband is Hindu. Their marriage was solemnised under the Special Marriage Act (SMA), and not the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA).

Says Ankush Satija, senior associate at Kred-Jure, “The Special Marriage Act was enacted in 1954 to solemnise and recognise marriages between individuals from different faiths, communities, or religions, and to regulate inter-faith marriages, separation, and other related issues.”

In the case of some religions, conversion is required if a marriage is to be solemnised