Maintenance in Hyderabad: Documents and Evidence Courts Consider

The short answer

Maintenance in Hyderabad is fact-specific. There is no fixed percentage of salary.

The court looks at:

• the needs of the claimant (and of children, if claimed);
• the actual means of the person asked to pay — not the means recited in a speech;
• the standard of living of the marriage;
• other dependants and liabilities;
• the evidence, including the disclosure affidavit.

Concealment of income is often more important than the adjective attached to the other spouse.

This is general information. It is not a quantification of any claim.

Which statute?

Provision	Typical use
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Sections 24 and 25	Interim and permanent alimony in a pending or concluded HMA proceeding
BNSS Section 144 (old Section 125 CrPC)	A separate maintenance proceeding, including for a wife, children and parents as the section allows
DV Act, 2005, Section 20	Monetary relief in a domestic-violence proceeding
Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, Section 18	A Hindu wife’s claim to be maintained by her husband, on the conditions of that section

Which one fits is a legal choice. Stacking them as if they were extra percentages is how pleadings become confused.

For new matters, identify whether the BNSS or the CrPC governs the procedural claim. For offences and procedure after 1 July 2024, Section 144 BNSS occupies the field of Section 125 CrPC.

Documents that actually move the needle

• salary slips, Form 16, ITRs, bank statements, GST and business accounts where they exist;
• proof of rent, school fees, medical costs, and the claimant’s needs;
• proof of other liabilities and dependants;
• the affidavit of disclosure in the form required by Rajnesh v. Neha (2021) 2 SCC 324;
• prior orders, if any.

A round figure with no paper is an invitation to disbelief. Family Courts at Hyderabad have heard every story about “cash income the other side hides”. They still want a document.

Conduct

Conduct may be relevant under some provisions. It is not a licence to starve a dependant, and not a licence to invent a figure.

Related: mutual consent divorce in Hyderabad and family law. Contact with the affidavits and the accounts.

Nothing in this article is a quantification of any maintenance claim or a promise of any interim order.