Mutual consent divorce
Both spouses agree to separate. Two motions, a settlement recorded on affidavit, and a statutory gap between them that can sometimes be waived.
Read the procedureMatrimonial & family law · Gurgaon
Family law is procedure before it is anything else. This site explains the procedure.
The Matrimonial Law Office is a two-advocate chambers practising matrimonial and family law before the Family Court at Gurgaon, the District & Sessions Court, the Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh and the Supreme Court of India.
Most people arrive at a family court knowing what they want and nothing at all about how the system will get them there — which provision applies, which court has jurisdiction, what has to be proved, what it will cost and how long each stage genuinely takes. Every page on this site is written to answer those questions for one specific proceeding, with the section of the statute stated plainly so you can read the law for yourself.
The office handles marriage registration and court marriage, mutual consent and contested divorce, maintenance, custody, domestic violence proceedings and the criminal matters that arise alongside them. Gurgaon is officially named Gurugram; both refer to the same city and the same courts.
s. 13B HMAMutual consent divorces. 13 HMAContested divorces. 24-25 HMAMaintenance & alimonyGWA 1890Child custody & guardianships. 12 PWDVADomestic violence proceedingss. 85 BNSMatrimonial criminal defenceSMA 1954Court marriage & registrationArt. 21Protection petitionss. 13 CPCNRI & cross-border matterss. 13B(1)Agreements & drafting
The advocates
Two advocates, and the same two on your file from start to finish
The office is run by Advocate Kanika Rao and Advocate Rajat Kadyan, both graduates of the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. Matrimonial work does not benefit from being passed down a chain of juniors, so the person who hears the first account of a marriage is the person who argues the case.
Kanika Rao's work centres on maintenance, custody, proceedings under the Domestic Violence Act, and the drafting of settlements. Rajat Kadyan handles contested trials, the criminal side of matrimonial disputes, and protection petitions before the Punjab & Haryana High Court. Both read every new matter, which means an unavailable date does not become an adjournment — and a client who would rather describe a marriage to a woman advocate, or to a man, is not obliged to do otherwise.
Consultations and drafting in English and Hindi.
What we do
Matters handled
Ten areas, each with its own page setting out the governing provision, who may file, the documents required, the sequence of hearings, where it is filed in Gurgaon, and a realistic timeline.
Contested divorce
One spouse petitions on a statutory ground and the other resists. Evidence, cross-examination and a trial timeline measured in years rather than months.
Read the procedureMaintenance & alimony
Interim support during a case, permanent alimony at its end, and the parallel remedies under the BNSS, the DV Act and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act.
Read the procedureChild custody & guardianship
Custody, visitation, guardianship certificates and the welfare principle that overrides every other consideration in these petitions.
Read the procedureDomestic violence proceedings
Protection, residence, monetary relief, custody and compensation orders under the 2005 Act, and how the reliefs interact with other pending cases.
Read the procedureMatrimonial criminal defence
Anticipatory bail, regular bail, quashing petitions and the conduct of the defence in cruelty and dowry prosecutions.
Read the procedureCourt marriage & registration
Solemnisation under the Special Marriage Act, registration under the Haryana Act of 2008, and certificates in the form foreign missions accept.
Read the procedureProtection petitions
Petitions before the Punjab & Haryana High Court by adult couples and live-in partners facing threats from family, and how directions to the police actually operate.
Read the procedureNRI & cross-border matters
Recognition of foreign decrees, jurisdiction disputes, service abroad, transfer petitions and custody where one parent lives outside India.
Read the procedureAgreements & drafting
Settlement deeds, separation agreements, custody schedules, cohabitation agreements and legal notices, drafted so they survive scrutiny in court.
Read the procedureHow this chambers works
Four things worth knowing before you call anyone
A family case is not one case
A single marital breakdown routinely produces four or five parallel proceedings — a divorce petition, a maintenance application, a DV Act complaint, a custody petition and sometimes a criminal case — in two or three different courts. They have to be run as one strategy, because a statement made in one is evidence in the others.
Settlement is not surrender
A large proportion of matrimonial matters end in a recorded settlement, whether at the Mediation Centre, in a Lok Adalat or by converting a contested petition into a joint one under section 13B. Knowing what a case is realistically worth is what makes a settlement fair rather than merely fast.
Timelines are ranges, not promises
No advocate can tell you when a court will decide. What can be described honestly is how long each stage has taken in comparable matters, and what typically causes delay — incomplete service, adjournments sought by the other side, transfer applications, and evidence that has to be recorded witness by witness.
Costs should be stated in writing
Professional fees, court fees, process fees and out-of-pocket expenses are set out in the engagement letter before any work begins, stage by stage. The fees page explains the structure.
Written for people, not for search engines
Guides and procedure notes
What documents a divorce court actually asks for
The list every petition needs, the ones that are commonly missing, and why an unsigned photocopy of a salary slip causes more delay than it saves.
Read the guideThe affidavit of assets and liabilities
Since 2020 both spouses must file one in every maintenance proceeding. What it contains, and what happens when disclosure is incomplete.
Read the guideOld section, new section
A conversion table for matrimonial provisions after the criminal statutes were replaced on 1 July 2024. 498A, 304B, 125, 438 and 482 all have new numbers.
Read the guideA consultation is a conversation about facts
Bring whatever you have — the marriage certificate, any notice received, court papers, message records. An hour is usually enough to identify which proceedings apply, what the other side is likely to do, and what the realistic range of outcomes is.