The Delhi High Court has ruled that determining interim maintenance amounts in divorce cases cannot be done with mathematical precision, and that a husband’s foreign income should not be mechanically converted to Indian currency when assessing maintenance obligations.
Delhi High Court on Interim Maintenance
Justice Amit Mahajan made the observations while enhancing a woman’s interim maintenance. The court stated that assessment of income, particularly when a spouse is employed abroad, “necessarily involves a degree of estimation and informed guesswork.”
The court was addressing revision petitions from the woman and her husband, contesting a May 2023 family court order awarding ₹50,000 in monthly interim maintenance. The wife sought an increase, while the husband challenged the original award.
In its December 23 order, the court emphasized it could not conduct a full inquiry at the interim stage, but must arrive at a reasonable figure based on available information, lifestyle indicators, and the earning capacity of the earning spouse.
The court acknowledged the husband is employed as a software engineer with Amazon.com Services LLC and resides in the U.S., and that the wife is currently unemployed. The wife asserted her husband earns approximately ₹1.76 crore annually.
The court noted the wife submitted an affidavit detailing the husband’s income in US dollars and corresponding exchange rates. However, the court also observed that expenses incurred while living in the U.S. cannot be directly compared to those in Delhi.
The court clarified that simply earning in foreign currency does not automatically entitle the wife to maintenance calculated by a direct currency conversion, without considering the specific circumstances.
Based on its assessment, the court increased the interim maintenance amount to ₹1 lakh per month.
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