Jobless father gets child maintenance from estranged wife
HYDERABAD: If divorce and child custody laws are loaded against men, at least one such case has taken an objective turn at a city family court. Recently, the additional bench of the Hyderabad family court ruled in favour of a man who after winning the child's custody, sought financial aid from his working wife to raise the child until he was 18. The reason? The man in his petition stated that he had lost his job to make his marriage work thus holding the woman responsible for his jobless state.
The wife, who is a government employee, had filed for a divorce petition when the husband filed a petition simultaneously seeking the child's custody, stating that she had deserted their son. His custody claim was not countered by the wife and hence the court granted him the seven-year-old's custody. It was following this that he sought financial aid from his wife to raise the child, stating that he had been forced to spend considerable time at home to take care of the child and also trying to make his marriage work. In his petition he stated that he put in all possible efforts to save the marriage but his wife refused to listen to him. At a later date, she dumped her husband and child and walked out of their home. The divorce petition filed by her is still pending at the court.
This personal stress, he said, claimed his job of an administrator at a city-based hospital. "The mother has been asked by the court to bear the actual expenses of the child's education," said the lawyer representing the woman on conditions of anonymity. The amount will vary every month depending on the needs of the child.
This is not the first time that a man has sought financial aid from his estranged wife. A couple of months ago, a man moved the court seeking alimony from his wife citing his unemployment as the reason. However, this could well be among the first such verdicts wherein the court has conceded to the man's petition, by asking the woman to financially aid the man.
Nevertheless, lawyers are now speculating if the court would grant the divorce, now that it has made the woman responsible to bear the expenditure of the child's education. Also, lawyers are wondering what the court would do if the father manages to obtain employment by the time it hears the divorce petition. "For this the mother will have to file a petition or state during the hearing that the husband has found a job and that she no longer needs to pay for the child. However, this may take some time,'' a lawyer said.
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