Can’t convert husband’s foreign income ‘mechanically’ into Indian currency for maintenance: Delhi High Court

The court noted that husband is required to incur expenses in foreign currency, and the cost of living in the USA could not be equated with that prevailing in Delhi.

The court, while considering that the wife was not gainfully employed, enhanced the interim maintenance to Rs 1 lakh per month.

Background

The Family Court had earlier directed the husband to pay Rs 50,000 per month as interim maintenance to his wife. It had noted that the husband failed to file his written statement or submit a detailed income affidavit, leading to his defence being struck off.

It proceeded to assess maintenance based on the material placed on record by the wife.

Before the high court, the wife contended that her husband was working with Amazon in the US and was earning over Rs 1 crore per annum. She submitted that she was unemployed and had no independent source of income.

On the other hand, the husband argued that she was highly qualified, and had voluntarily left her job despite having the capacity to earn.

Findings

The court observed that the determination of interim maintenance is not an exercise capable of mathematical precision.

“More often than not, particularly in cases where one of the spouses is employed abroad and has failed to place complete and candid disclosure of income before the Court, the assessment necessarily involves a degree of estimation and informed guesswork,” it noted.

The court held that the sacrosanct duty of a husband to maintain his wife cannot be construed to mean that the entirety of the husband’s income is liable to be equalised or proportionately mirrored in the amount of maintenance.

“Having regard to the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, and considering that the wife is admittedly not gainfully employed, this Court deems it appropriate to enhance the interim maintenance from Rs. 50,000/- per month to Rs. 1,00,000/- per month, based on a broad, reasonable, and rounded-off assessment,” the court ordered.