Alimony? Where's the money, honey?

Reeling under recession, divorced techies are marching to court saying they can't afford to pay ex-wives the same amount anymore

Pic for representation purpose only

Reeling under recession, divorced techies are marching to court saying they can't afford to pay ex-wives the same amount anymore

Recession has brought divorced techies to the courts once again. And no, it's not about another divorce.

Techie husbands, who were legally divorced sometime back, are now seeking help from the court to reduce the maintenance amount or alimony, they are paying estranged wives.

IT sector

Susan Samuel, an advocate said, "These days I have been getting many calls by divorced spouses, especially from the IT sector, asking for legal guidance. They want to know whether the maintenance feeu00a0 can be reduced. I have a few cases with me where I am trying to get the maintenance amount reduced."

Arun Kumar (name changed on request), who is working with IBM, said that he got divorced sometime back and was asked by the court to pay Rs 10,000 as maintenance fee for his two sons.

Heavy burden

"Earlier, my salary was around Rs 35,000 but due to the recession, my salary has been reduced to Rs 20,000. Now I have stopped paying the maintenance fee, as I am unable to pay such the huge amount u2013 I have to take care of my parents and myself with the money I am getting. I am seeking legal help to see if it can be reduced," he added.u00a0

'No job, no money'

Prashanth (name changed), was working with a BPO and lost his job. He said, "I was paying an alimony of Rs 7,000 per month very promptly as directed by the court until recently. There was no problem whatsover, but now it has become very difficult for me to pay the money as I have lost my job. I want to take legal help to sort out this problem and have approached a lawyer."

No petitions

Ujwala, another advocate who deals with the family court said, "There are a few people who want to file petitions to reduce the alimony. The ratio is three out of ten. With the market being down, and now, the salaries cut,u00a0 divorced husbands are unable to pay the money. We have to just wait and watch whether the court entertains such demands or not," she added.