Law of Maintenance in India

Selected excerpts from the ebook:

Considerations for granting alimony

Maintenance depends upon a gathering together of all the facts of the situation, the amount of free state, the past life of the married parties, and the families, survey of the condition and necessities and rights of the members on a reasonable view of change of circumstances possibly required is the future, regard being of course had to the scale and mode of living, and to the age, habits and class of life of the parties.

The following principles would appear to be relevant for the purpose:
(1) position and status of the parties;
(2) reasonable want of claimant (towards food, clothing, shelter, medical attendance and treatment, education and the like);
(3) income of the claimant;
(4) income of the opposite party;
(5) number of persons opposite party is obliged to maintain.

Two corollaries may be added here:
(1) In arriving at the income of a party only involuntary deductions like income-tax, provident fund contribution, etc. are to be excluded; and
(2) though under the law opposite party may to be obliged to maintain brother or sister but if that brother or sister having no income is living with the opposite party as member of his family and where either there are no parents or are unable to maintain themselves, the court may in a given circumstance consider the expenses to be incurred on the maintenance of brother or sister by the opposite party.