Mutual Consent Divorce Lawyers: When husband and wife both decide and accept To get separated for a divorce, the courts will offer a divorce decree with mutual consent.
For the Divorce petition to be accepted, however, the married couple should be separated for minimum one year or two years (as per the relevant act) and be able to prove that they have not been able to live together.
Often, even when either husband or wife is reluctant, they still agree to such a divorce because it is relatively inexpensive and not as traumatic as a contested divorce. Matters such as children’s custody, maintenance and property rights could be agreed to mutually.
There are three aspects regarding which a husband and wife have to reach a consensus. One is alimony or maintenance issues. As per law, there is no minimum or maximum limit of support. It could be any figure or no figure. The second consideration is custody of the child. This must necessarily be come down with a conclusion between the parties, as it is inevitably what requires the greatest amount of time in divorce without mutual consent.
Child custody in a mutual consent divorce can also be shared or joint or exclusive depending upon the understanding of the spouses. The third is property. The husband and wife must decide who gets what part of the property. This includes both movable and immovable property. Right down to the bank accounts, everything must be divided. It is not necessary for it to be fair, so long as it is agreed to by both parties.
The duration of a divorce by mutual consent is 6 months, depending on the decision of the court. However, we can file a waiver petition to get a divorce order in 7 to 15 days. Usually, the courts prefer to end mutual consent divorces sooner, rather than later.
As per Section 13 B of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and Section 28 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, the couple should be living separately for at least one year before divorce proceedings can begin. Section 10A of Divorce Act, 1869, however, requires the couple to be separated for at least two years. Do note that living separately does not necessarily mean living in different locations; the couple only needs to provide that they have not been living as husband and wife during this time period.
