• Divorce

1. I was married twice to the same women, once on 03 Mar 1997 legally and again on 04 Mar 1999 socially.
2. We obtained a divorce on 26 Mar 2014. The date of marriage mentioned in the divorce order was 03 Mar 1997 and there was no mention of the social marriage of 04 Mar 1999.
3. Will my wife be able to claim that we are still married based on the fact that we were divorced for the marriage of 03 Mar 1997 but not for the social marriage conducted in front of family and friends.
Please advise
Asked 10 years ago in Family Law
Religion: Hindu

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9 Answers

1) what do you mean by social marriage? what is necessity for getting married twice?

2) once divorce is granted by court your marriage is dissolved .

3) your wife cannot claim she is still married to you

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
97255 Answers
7855 Consultations

Hello,

1) Once the court has granted a Decree of Divorce it is absolute unless appealed against by the opposite party. In your case the period of appeal has elapsed.

2) There is no such segregation as legal marriage and social marriage.Marriage can be conducted either according to the religious rites of the parties or it can be registered before a marriage Registrar in the presence of witnesses.Both are socially and legally acceptable and valid.

3) In your case as the parties to the marriage are the same and there was no divorce in between the so called legal marriage and the social marriage they won't be treated as separate marriage and there is no way your wife can claim to be still married to you and besides this there is no way the court order can mention or need to mention the subsequent date of marriage.

S J Mathew
Advocate, Mumbai
3596 Answers
175 Consultations

Even if you performed marriage ceremony again without obtaining the divorce, the date of marriage does not change. Hence if the court has granted you divorce, it is valid and the wife cannot claim that marriage is still subsisting.

Shaveta Sanghi
Advocate, Chandigarh
914 Answers
111 Consultations

1. How do you define the expression 'social marriage'? When you had married this woman then why and under what circumstances did you marry her again?

2. Have you got mutual or contested divorce? Has an appeal been filed?

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30780 Answers
973 Consultations

Hi, once the court held that you marriage is dissolved and you need not go for second time for divorce.

Pradeep Bharathipura
Advocate, Bangalore
5617 Answers
338 Consultations

1. When you married on 03 Mar 1997 legally as stated by you ( hopefully by saying married legally you mean that you registered your marriage), you and your wife became husband and wife,

2. Your subsequent social marriage has no legal implication,

3. A decree of divorce has already been issued by the Court,

4. She can not claim to be married with you any longer.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27498 Answers
726 Consultations

Dear Querist

your social marriage is void abinitio, there is no procedure in law for remarry without divorce, so she can not claim anything like this

Nadeem Qureshi
Advocate, New Delhi
6319 Answers
302 Consultations

Once divorce is obtained from the Court it is final and there is nothing that remains between you and your erstwhile wife.

Ananth Kumar
Advocate, Bangalore
122 Answers
61 Consultations

There is no concept of social marriage in law. If you have got the divorce order from Court then the same is final unless the decree is challenged before the Court.

So dont worry.

Sudershani Ray
Advocate, New Delhi
192 Answers
44 Consultations

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