Family Law Bare Acts 2026: How Senior Advocates Read Them | EduLaw
EduLaw EditorialAdvocate PlaybookA practical 2026 guide to reading Family Law Bare Acts in India: HMA, SMA, DV Act, maintenance, custody, succession, adoption, Muslim law and BNSS 144.
Advocate Playbook 074 EduLaw Family Law • Bare Act Strategy • Updated for 2026 How Senior Advocates Read the Bare Act in Family Law The practical statutory map for divorce, maintenance, custody, domestic violence, succession, adoption and personal laws in India — and the method experienced litigators use to turn sections into case strategy. EduLaw Editorial Updated: 14 August 2026 Advocate Playbook 074 India Core idea: In family litigation, the Bare Act is not the material you read before the case law. It is the map that tells you what the case is legally capable of becoming. Quick Answer: A senior advocate does not begin a family-law file by searching judgments for words such as “cruelty”, “maintenance” or “custody”. The first exercise is statutory. Identify the law governing the marriage or relationship, identify the forum, identify the exact relief, break the provision into ingredients, check definitions/provisos/explanations, and then test the available evidence against those ingredients. Case law is used to interpret the text — not replace it. Family law creates a particular trap for young advocates: several remedies may exist at the same time, but they do not arise from the same statute, use the same ingredients, follow the same procedure or produce the same result. A matrimonial dispute can simultaneously touch the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 , the Family Courts Act, 1984 , Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 , the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 , guardianship law, succession law and personal-law rules. That is why “knowing family law” is not the same thing as knowing divorce grounds. The practical skill is knowing which statutory door to open first . The best family-law reading habit is simple: Facts → Governing law → Section → Ingredients → Evidence → Relief → Strategy. The Family Law Bare Act Map: What to Open First The table below is deliberately public. If you are handling a family-law file, this should be the minimum statutory map on your desk before you search for a single judgment. Issue Primary statute Sections / areas to open first Hindu marriage validity, divorce, judicial separation Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 S.5 S.7 S.9 S.10 S.11 S.12 S.13 S.13B Inter-faith / civil marriage Special Marriage Act, 1954 S.4–9 S.22–25 S.27 S.28 S.36–38 Family Court jurisdiction and procedure Family Courts Act, 1984 S.7 S.8 S.9 S.10 S.14 S.19 Interim / permanent matrimonial maintenance Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 S.24 S.25 Summary maintenance for wife, children and parents BNSS, 2023 S.144 Hindu maintenance outside matrimonial relief Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 S.18 S.19 S.20 S.22 Domestic violence and residence / protection / monetary relief Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 S.2 S.3 S.12 S.17–23 S.26 S.31 Custody and guardianship Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 + Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 HMGA S.6 HMGA S.13 GWA S.7 GWA S.9 GWA S.17 GWA S.25 Hindu succession and family property Hindu Succession Act, 1956 S.6 S.8 S.10 S.14 S.15 S.16 Hindu adoption Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 S.6–12 Muslim marriage, dissolution and maintenance Shariat Act, 1937; Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939; 1986 and 2019 Muslim Women Acts 1939 Act S.2 1986 Act S.3–5 2019 Act S.3–7 BNSS S.144 Christian matrimonial relief Divorce Act, 1869 Grounds Mutual consent Alimony Custody Parsi matrimonial relief Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 Validity Divorce Alimony Custody Child marriage Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 S.3–6 S.12 S.13 This is a litigation starting map, not an exhaustive list of every Central or State family-law provision. State amendments, High Court rules, local Family Court rules and fact-specific statutes must also be checked. The Five Moves Senior Advocates Make Before Case Law 01 Identify the legal relationship How was the marriage solemnised or registered? Which personal or secular statute governs it? Is the dispute matrimonial, protective, financial, custodial or proprietary? 02 Identify the exact relief Divorce, nullity, judicial separation, interim maintenance, residence, custody, injunction and succession are not interchangeable prayers. 03 Break the section into ingredients Convert every “if”, “where”, “provided that”, explanation and definition into a fact that must be pleaded, proved, rebutted or admitted. 04 Read the procedural neighbours The main relief section rarely stands alone. Read jurisdiction, limitation, notice, interim relief, evidentiary and appellate provisions around it. 05 Only then read judgments Search the case law for the precise statutory issue you have identified — not for the emotional label the client used to describe the dispute. 2026 practice update: Section 144 BNSS is now the current summary-maintenance provision for wives, children and parents. The Supreme Court’s own family-law case classification expressly cross-references former Section 125 CrPC with Section 144 BNSS. Maintenance research that still stops at “Section 125 CrPC” is therefore incomplete for current drafting. Premium Playbook Continues The public section gives you the statutory map. The premium section below turns that map into litigation: section-by-section reading sequences, issue trees, drafting checks, evidence mapping, maintenance overlap, custody strategy, Muslim family-law routes, Family Court procedure and recent Supreme Court practice notes. Premium • Advocate Playbook 074 1. How to Read the Hindu Marriage Act Like a Litigator Do not start a Hindu Marriage Act file at Section 13 simply because the client says, “I want divorce.” The senior advocate’s first question is more basic: what is the legal status of the marriage you are asking the court to dissolve? Step A — Validity: Sections 5 and 7. Were the statutory conditions met and was the marriage solemnised in accordance with applicable rites/custom? Step B — Status attack: Sections 11 and 12. Is the case really about a void or voidable marriage rather than divorce? Step C — Matrimonial route: Sections 9, 10, 13 and 13B. Is the relief restitution, judicial separation, contested divorce or mutual-consent divorce? Step D — Forum: Section 19. Before drafting the merits, test where the petition can lawfully be presented. Step E — Connected relief: Sections 24, 25, 26 and 27. Money, children and property can alter both litigation and settlement strategy. This sequence prevents a common drafting error: spending six pages pleading matrimonial misconduct while the threshold issue is that the chosen relief does not match the legal status of the marriage. The Section 13 mistake young advocates make They read the ground, find a Supreme Court judgment with similar facts, and copy the language of the judgment into the petition. A better method is the reverse. Write the statutory ground in the margin. Break it into elements. Against every element, write the fact, document, witness or admission that can prove it. If an ingredient has no evidence, the petition has a strategy problem before it has a drafting problem. 2. Special Marriage Act: Procedure Is Part of the Merits The Special Marriage Act is especially dangerous to read selectively. Sections 4 to 9 deal with conditions, notice, publication, objections and inquiry. Sections 22 and 23 deal with restitution and judicial separation; Sections 24 and 25 address nullity; Sections 27 and 28 address divorce; Sections 36 to 38 govern financial and child-related reliefs. In practice, the lesson is not “memorise more sections”. It is: read the Act as a sequence. A procedural defect, status issue or jurisdiction problem can change the litigation route before the divorce ground is ever reached. Confirm whether the marriage was solemnised under the Act or merely registered under its machinery. Read the validity conditions before advising on nullity or divorce. Check the statutory notice/objection framework where relevant to solemnisation. Separate nullity grounds from divorce grounds. Read maintenance and custody provisions alongside the principal relief, not after the petition is drafted. 3. Maintenance: Stop Treating It as One Law Maintenance is where the Bare Act method produces the biggest practical advantage because India does not have a single maintenance provision. Depending on the parties and the proceeding, the advocate may need to examine Section 24 and Section 25 HMA , Sections 18 to 22 HAMA , Section 144 BNSS , Section 20 of the DV Act , the Special Marriage Act , or Muslim-law statutes. The right question is not “How much maintenance can she get?” The right questions are: What is the legal source of the claim? Who is legally entitled to apply under that source? Is the relief interim, final, summary or ancillary to matrimonial proceedings? What are the statutory conditions and disqualifications? What financial disclosure is required? What other maintenance orders already exist and how must they be disclosed or adjusted? Supreme Court • Rajnesh v. Neha • 4 Nov 2020 The Supreme Court framed nationwide maintenance guidelines and standardised disclosure of assets and liabilities. In real files, this means maintenance strategy must be evidence-led: income, assets, liabilities, standard of living, dependants and existing orders matter as much as the prayer amount. Supreme Court • Sau. Jiya v. Kuldeep • 2025 INSC 135 The Court again referred to the factors in Rajnesh v. Neha while dealing with permanent alimony. The practical lesson is that a Bare Act reading of Section 25 HMA must be paired with a structured financial record, not a bare assertion that one spouse earns more than the other. Muslim women and maintenance: the overlap cannot be ignored For Muslim women, the advocate must avoid the false choice between “personal law” and “general maintenance law.” The 1986 Act and the statutory maintenance framework have to be read together with binding Supreme Court authority. In Mohd. Abdul Samad v. State of Telangana (2024 INSC 506), the Supreme Court held that Section 125 CrPC applied to Muslim women, including divorced Muslim women, alongside the 1986 Act. For current filings, the statutory successor to Section 125 CrPC is Section 144 BNSS , which should be opened and read in its present form. 4. Custody: Read Welfare Before You Read Parental Rights Custody disputes often arrive in chambers as accusations: “He is alienating the child”; “She is refusing access”; “I am the natural guardian.” The Bare Act forces the advocate to move away from parental grievance and toward the legal test. For Hindus, Section 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act identifies natural guardians, but Section 13 makes the welfare of the minor the paramount consideration. Under the Guardians and Wards Act, Sections 7, 9, 17 and 25 are recurring provisions in appointment, jurisdiction, welfare assessment and custody. A better custody conference Instead of asking only, “Who has the stronger claim?”, ask: Where is the child living now? Who manages school and medical care? Is relocation involved? What is the present access pattern? Is there a safety allegation? What is the child’s age and routine? Can an interim visitation arrangement function immediately? Those facts must then be connected to the welfare test in the statute. 5. The DV Act: Read It by Relief Clusters The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is one of the easiest statutes to plead broadly and one of the hardest to use well. Start with Sections 2 and 3 for definitions and the meaning of domestic violence. Then move quickly to the relief architecture. Section 12: application to the Magistrate. Section 17: right to reside in a shared household. Section 18: protection orders. Section 19: residence orders. Section 20: monetary relief. Section 21: temporary custody. Section 22: compensation and damages. Section 23: interim and ex parte orders. Section 26: relief in other legal proceedings. Section 31: breach of a protection order. The senior-advocate method is to place each allegation beside the specific remedy it is expected to support. If a fact supports no legal relief, ask why it is consuming space in the pleading. If a relief is prayed for but no fact supports its ingredients, the defect is even more serious. 6. Succession, Adoption and Family Property: Status Comes Before Share Property disputes within families become confused when lawyers begin with percentages rather than legal status. Under the Hindu Succession Act, Sections 6, 8, 10, 14, 15 and 16 often form the first statutory cluster for coparcenary and intestate succession questions. But the correct route depends on who died, when, the nature of the property, the line of succession and the status of the claimant. For adoption under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, read Sections 6 to 12 as a chain: requisites of a valid adoption, capacity to adopt, capacity to give, who may be adopted, other conditions and the effect of adoption. Do not advise merely from a family narrative that “the child was always treated as adopted.” The statute asks a different question: was there a legally valid adoption? Practical distinction: A succession dispute usually becomes easier once you separate three questions: (1) What property is in issue? (2) What is its legal character/source of title? (3) Which succession rule applies to the deceased and claimant? Mixing these questions is how family-property advice goes wrong. 7. Muslim Family Law: Identify the Source Before Advising Muslim family law cannot be handled through one “Muslim Law Bare Act” because the legal framework is spread across personal law, legislation and judicial interpretation. At minimum, a practitioner should know when to open the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 , the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 , the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 , and the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 . Section 2 of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act is a natural starting point when a Muslim wife seeks judicial dissolution. The 1986 Act requires careful attention in post-divorce financial claims. The 2019 Act must be read where the facts involve pronouncement of talaq falling within that legislation. Maintenance research must also include the secular statutory route and current Supreme Court law. The practical rule is simple: do not advise from labels such as “talaq”, “khula”, “maintenance”, “mehr” or “custody” until you have identified the exact legal source and remedy involved. 8. Christian, Parsi, Child Marriage and Other Routes A genuinely complete family-law desk cannot stop at Hindu and Muslim personal laws. Christian matrimonial causes are governed by the Divorce Act, 1869 , while Parsi matrimonial disputes have their own framework under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 . Civil marriages and certain cross-religion situations may involve the Special Marriage Act, 1954 . Foreign marriages may invoke the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 . The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 must be opened whenever age at marriage is a live issue. Sections 3 to 6 deal with voidability, maintenance/residence and children; Section 12 identifies situations where child marriages are void; Section 13 empowers courts to issue injunctions prohibiting child marriages. Adoption can also require reading the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and current adoption regulations, depending on the parties and route of adoption. Assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy now have separate statutory frameworks as well. The lesson is not to force every family dispute into the familiar marriage statutes. 9. The Family Courts Act Is Not Background Law Many young advocates treat the Family Courts Act as administrative legislation. That is a mistake. Sections 7 and 8 determine jurisdiction and exclusion of other courts. Section 9 places emphasis on settlement. Section 10 deals with procedure. Section 14 gives Family Courts flexibility in receiving material that may assist effective adjudication. Section 19 governs appeals. This means the procedural plan of a family case should be built before the first substantive draft is finalised. Ask: Does the Family Court have jurisdiction over this exact relief? Which local / High Court Family Court rules apply? Is conciliation or counselling likely to affect the first hearing? What interim application should accompany the main petition? What evidence can realistically be brought on record in this forum? What is the appellate route and limitation position? 10. When to Move from the Bare Act to Case Law A Bare Act tells you the legal architecture; precedents tell you how courts have interpreted uncertain words, tests, discretion and procedure. The order matters. If you begin with case law, you tend to search the client’s story. If you begin with the statute, you search the legal issue. Compare these two searches: Weak research query “Supreme Court husband ignored wife cruelty divorce case.” Strong research query “Section 13(1)(ia) HMA mental cruelty — threshold — false allegations — evidentiary standard — Supreme Court.” The second query is better because the statutory ingredient has already been identified. That is how the Bare Act improves legal research. Supreme Court • Neha Lal v. Abhishek Kumar • 2026 INSC 73 The Supreme Court reiterated that irretrievable breakdown is not itself a statutory ground for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, while recognising the Supreme Court’s discretionary Article 142 power in appropriate cases under Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan . The litigation lesson is crucial: do not plead a Supreme Court constitutional power as though it were an ordinary statutory divorce ground available before every Family Court. 11. The One-Page Bare Act Desk Method For every family-law file, prepare one sheet before drafting. It should contain only seven boxes: Relationship / status: What legal relationship exists and under which law? Forum: Which court has jurisdiction and why? Principal relief: What is the exact final relief? Interim relief: What must be protected before trial? Ingredients: What must be pleaded and proved? Evidence: Which document, admission or witness supports each ingredient? Authorities: Which binding precedents interpret the disputed ingredient? If any box is empty, the file is not ready for aggressive drafting. This single habit forces the case theory to stay statutory. 12. Seven Bare Act Mistakes That Cost Family-Law Cases Reading the divorce section without first checking validity, jurisdiction and status. Treating all maintenance proceedings as though they arise under one provision. Pleading every unpleasant fact instead of facts tied to statutory ingredients. Ignoring provisos, explanations and definitions because the main section “looks clear”. Using an old CrPC section number in a current BNSS filing without checking the new provision. Reading custody as parental entitlement rather than child welfare. Searching judgments before deciding what legal proposition actually requires interpretation. Frequently Asked Questions Which Bare Act should I read first for a divorce case in India? Start with the statute governing the marriage. For a Hindu marriage, that is normally the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. For a civil marriage under the Special Marriage Act, start there. Then add the Family Courts Act and any connected maintenance, custody, DV or property statute relevant to the prayers. Which section replaced Section 125 CrPC for maintenance? Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 is the current summary-maintenance provision for wives, children and parents. Which HMA sections should every matrimonial lawyer know? At a working level: Sections 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 13B, 14, 19, 24, 25, 26 and 27 are recurring provisions. But the right section depends on the relief and facts; a memorised list is not a substitute for reading the Act. What is the best way to read the DV Act? Read definitions and Section 3 first, then organise the file by remedies under Sections 17 to 23. Use Section 12 for the application, Section 26 for overlapping proceedings and Section 31 where breach of a protection order is in issue. Can a Family Court grant divorce simply because the marriage has irretrievably broken down? Irretrievable breakdown is not itself a statutory ground under the Hindu Marriage Act. The Supreme Court can, in appropriate cases, exercise Article 142 jurisdiction as explained in Shilpa Sailesh and subsequent cases. That is not the same as creating an ordinary Family Court ground for divorce. Primary Legal Sources For publication, keep these official links live. They strengthen trust, enable readers to verify the text and make the article more useful for advocates. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — India Code Special Marriage Act, 1954 — India Code Family Courts Act, 1984 — India Code Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 — India Code Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 — India Code Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 — India Code Hindu Succession Act, 1956 — India Code BNSS Section 144 — Maintenance of wives, children and parents — India Code Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 — India Code Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 — India Code Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 — India Code Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 — India Code Legal accuracy note: This article is an educational litigation-reading guide, not legal advice. Family law is fact-specific and may involve State amendments, High Court rules, local Family Court rules and subsequent judgments. Always verify the current text of the statute and binding precedent before filing. Inside This Playbook Quick answer Family Law Bare Act map Five moves before case law Hindu Marriage Act Special Marriage Act Maintenance Custody & guardianship Domestic Violence Act Succession & adoption Muslim family law Family Courts Act Bare Act → case law Desk method FAQs © 2026 EduLaw. All rights reserved. Advocate Playbook 074 • Family Law Bare Act Strategy