Overview
When a spouse refuses to consent, divorce must be proven on statutory grounds: cruelty (physical or mental), desertion for two years, adultery, conversion, mental disorder, or incurable disease. Contested divorces are evidence battles — messages, medical records, witnesses, financial trails — and they usually run alongside maintenance, custody, and sometimes criminal proceedings. Strategy matters as much as law: what you file first, where, and what you can prove decides the next three years. We fight these matters for petitioners and respondents alike.
Key Provisions — Hindu Marriage Act / Special Marriage Act, 1955 / 1954
- Section 13 HMA grounds: cruelty, desertion (2 years), adultery, conversion, unsoundness of mind, renunciation, presumption of death.
- Mental cruelty is the most-used ground — sustained humiliation, false criminal cases, and denial of conjugal life all count per case law.
- Interim maintenance and litigation expenses under Section 24 HMA are available while the case runs.
- A contested decree can be appealed; well-built trial evidence is what survives appeal.
What You Can Get
How We Handle It
Ground & Evidence Strategy
We pick the provable ground and assemble the evidence before filing anything.
Petition / Reply
Filing (or defending) in the right family court, with interim applications.
Evidence & Cross-Examination
Witnesses, documents, and cross-examination — the heart of the case.
Decree / Settlement
Judgment — or the negotiated conversion to mutual consent that contested pressure often produces.
Frequently Asked Questions
My spouse refuses to divorce me — am I stuck?
No. If you can prove a Section 13 ground you don't need consent. And sustained litigation very often ends in a negotiated mutual-consent settlement.
What counts as mental cruelty?
Courts have accepted sustained humiliation, false criminal complaints, public abuse, denial of companionship, and constant unfounded accusations — patterns, proven by evidence, not single incidents.
Legal Connect connects you with independent family-law advocates; we are not a law firm and this page is general information, not legal advice. Family matters are handled with complete confidentiality — call +91 22 6555 3444.