JJ Lawoffice

Family Law if described in one line is a branch of law that deals in 'making or breaking of any family.' In other words, all the legal disputes arising in any Indian family are governed under the Family Law prevalent in India.

This is one law that embraces all the age groups e.g. minors for Adoption and Child Custody,majors for Marriage, Divorce, Alimony/Maintenance , so on. Family Law also defines Succession in terms of Will and Inheritance. The basic need of family law is to deal with the disputes in such a manner that the rights to perform certain actions under this law are enjoyed by the persons with little or no stress.

The x-factor of Family law in India is its uniqueness in relation to the consideration of various customs and traditions along with the legal remedies and rights provided to people of different religions that are practiced in our country. In simple words, Family Law at times is silent on the beliefs that are swinging in lap of customs and traditions. For instance, marriage of two sapindas of the common ancestor is allowed going beyond the mark of law in the name of customs.

Coming to religions, India has a variety of them so does the provisions under Indian Law in this regard. Keeping it simple and short, marriage and divorce pertaining to different religions like- Hindu, Muslims, Christian, Sikhs and so on Indian family law has different provisions for them. For example- Hindu marriage law and Muslim marriage law have different set of rules to get married.

One allows polygamy (up to four wives) and other does not. Different set of ceremonies for different religions are essential to be performed during marriage Legal age of the couple getting married is different for both the religions. The procedure and grounds for divorce that are defined under both the laws is totally different.

Talking about the succession under the family law, it talks all about the wills, as in who can make a will? What is the need of a will? How is it made and registered? Answers to all these questions are stated in Indian Succession Act, 1925 which is applicable to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Janis.

To conclude, Family law in India governs all the matters related to any family.