He Just Wanted a Divorce. In One Week, His Wife Filed Four Cases Against Him. We Closed All Four in 19 Months.
About the Client
A 34-year-old Sr. Finance professional working with an MNC in Sector 56, Gurgaon. He got married in 2015 through a family-arranged match. Both families were happy, the wedding was a big affair with more than 800 guests, and for the first two years everything was normal. He has two children, born in 2017 and 2019. By 2020, the couple had started fighting almost every day. The reasons for these fights were usually about money expenditure, the client's mother visiting too often, and who made the financial decisions at home. None of these fights ever ended properly. At first, it looked like normal adjustment problems that every couple has. But slowly, things got worse, and neither of them wanted to stay together anymore. In the end, his wife packed her bags, took both children, and moved to her parents' house in Sonipat. She said she could not live with him anymore.
What Was the Case
Our client wanted a divorce on the ground of cruelty under Section 13(1) (ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. His wife did not agree to end the marriage on his terms. Instead of one simple case, the Wife had filed four cases against our client in just one week. The Cases were:
- A cruelty criminal complaint under Section 498A IPC / Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
- A petition under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005. In this case, she asked the court for the right to stay in the flat — even though the flat legally belonged to him.
- A maintenance case under Section 125 CrPC / Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
- She filed a petition in court for restitution of conjugal rights under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act. Here, his wife asked the court to order him to live with her again, instead of ending the marriage through divorce.
Each of these four cases was in a different court. Each had its own judge, its own hearing dates, and its own lawyer fighting from the other side. Our client's earlier lawyer was good at his work, but he works independently with no staff. He was treating all four cases as separate files that had nothing to do with each other. He would just reply to whichever notice came first, instead of planning one clear strategy for all four cases together. The hearing dates started clashing with each other. Sometimes the domestic violence case and the maintenance case would both have a hearing on the same morning. He had to pick one court to go to, which meant the other judge would be disappoint with him.
Things got worse when his wife filed a new petition. This time she asked the Punjab and Haryana High Court to move all the cases out of Gurgaon and shift them to Sonipat, where she was now living with her parents. If this petition had been allowed by court, our client would have been in real trouble. He worked full-time in Gurgaon and had no connection to Sonipat — his only link to that city was his in-laws' address. He would have had to take leave from work again and again, and travel to a different city for every single hearing, across four different cases. This is actually a common tactic used in divorce cases. The idea is to frustrate the other side — financially and emotionally — until they get exhausted and agree to a settlement on unfair terms, just to make it all stop.
He was completely frustrated. Four cases were running at the same time, and he couldn't keep track of which one was going where. On top of that, he was worried the transfer petition alone could drag his case on for years. Then, he contact to SPJ Advocates & Co. for help.
What Made This Case Difficult
Week 1-3 — FIR and Investigation
- Four different cases were running in four different courts at the same time. Each court had different hearing dates, and procedural requirements.
- A pending transfer petition that, if allowed by court, our client would have had to travel Sonipat for every single hearing, in all four cases.
- Before we took over the case, two rounds of mediation ordered by the court had already failed. By this time, the husband and wife did not trust each other at all.
- Some of the cruelty allegations was related to years ago. This meant we had to dig up old WhatsApp chats, hospital records, and building entry logs, and get them properly verified before they could be used as evidence in court.
- One wrong move, an inconsistent statement, or a missed hearing in any one of the four cases could be used as evidence against him in the other three, since other side's lawyer was clearly cross-referencing all four cases together
- The children, aged five and three at the time, were stuck in the middle.
- Client’s elderly parents were being pulled into some of the cruelty allegations, which added a lot of emotional stress on top of the legal fight.
How SPJ Advocates Handled It
Month 1 — Taking Control of Four Case Files
- We assigned a dedicated team on the case to handle all four matters together, instead of treating them as four separate files. This way, no hearing date was missed, and no order from one court went against an order from another court.
- We made one master timeline showing every hearing date, every pending application, and every deadline across all four courts. We explained this to the client in simple language, so he always knew what was coming next.
- We filed a detailed written reply in the cruelty case, supported by WhatsApp chats, medical papers, and statements from two independent witnesses who had seen the actual incidents — which were different from how his wife had described them.
Months 2–8 —Contesting the Transfer Petition Before the High Court
- Opposed the transfer application before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, arguing that the matrimonial home, his employment, his bank accounts, and his continuous residence were all in Gurgaon. Just because his wife moved to another city did not mean he should lose his right to fight the case in his own city
- Presented evidence that the children were enrolled in a school in Gurgaon, and the family's permanent residence was also in Gurgaon. This made it clear that Gurgaon was the correct place to hear the case.
- The High Court agreed and dismissed the transfer petition, keeping all four cases in Gurgaon. This was a vicotry that removed the biggest problem the client was facing
- At the same time, we kept working on the cruelty case. We cross-examined two of his wife's witnesses in court and exposing inconsistencies that what they told the police earlier did not match what they said in court
Months 9–15 —Bringing All Four Cases to One Negotiation Table
- We used the strong evidence we had collected in the 1st month, but we did not show it openly in court. We kept it hidden on purpose. Both sides knew this evidence existed, and that alone was enough to keep the settlement calm and fair, instead of turning into an ugly fight.
- Instead of negotiating four cases one by one — which usually takes longer time because each case waits on the other. We suggested one single meeting that covered all four things together: the divorce, the maintenance money, the criminal case, and the domestic violence case
- Compiled the documents of client's income, savings, property’s ownership, children's school expenses, and living costs. This helped keep the alimony and custody discussion realistic and based on real numbers, not emotions.
- We held several rounds of talks between the lawyers from both families, and slowly closed the gap between the wife demands and what was actually fair
Months 16–19 — Closing the Settlement
- Finally, both sides reached one full settlement. Both parties signed an agreement stating that the husband would pay the wife a single one-time alimony amount. Both parents would share custody of the child, and the wife would withdraw the criminal and domestic violence cases.
- Filed a joint quashing petition under Section 482 CrPC before the High Court, so both sides could officially close the criminal case and the domestic violence case together, exactly as agreed
- Got the divorce decree from the Family Court on the ground of cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) — finally ending a marriage.
The Result
After 19 months of coordinated litigation in court and negotiation, the Family Court finally gave the divorce. As part of the same settlement:
- Our client paid a one-time alimony of ₹85 lakh
- Both parents got joint custody of their two children, with a fixed calendar for weekdays, weekends, and school holidays
- The High Court closed the pending criminal case and the domestic violence case
So instead of fighting four separate battles for years, everything was settled together, in one go.
Facing More Than One Case From Your Divorce? Don't Fight Them One by One. SPJ Advocates Coordinates Every Matrimonial Proceeding Under One Strategy. Call: +91-8920245815 for a Detailed Discussion.
