Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 empowers the court — at the time of passing any decree under the Act or at any time thereafter — to order that one spouse pay the other a gross sum or periodic maintenance for life. It is the provision through which the financial relationship of a divorcing couple is finally wound up, and it differs from every other maintenance remedy in three ways: it is available to husbands as well as wives, it can be granted even years after the decree, and it can be varied, modified or rescinded if circumstances change. Understanding those three features is most of what a litigant needs to know.
Where Section 25 sits in the maintenance landscape
Matrimonial finance runs on several parallel tracks: interim maintenance under Section 24 HMA while the case is pending, the summary remedy under Section 144 of the BNSS (formerly Section 125 CrPC), monetary relief under the Domestic Violence Act, and personal-law remedies. Section 25 is the terminal provision — it operates when the marriage is being or has been judicially dissolved or otherwise adjudicated, and it is designed to produce the final allocation. Amounts received under the other provisions are typically adjusted so that maintenance is not duplicated across forums; the affidavit-of-assets regime now standard in Delhi ensures both sides\' finances are on the record before quantum is fixed.
What courts weigh
The respondent\'s income and other property, and the applicant\'s own — pay slips, tax returns, bank statements and the asset affidavits now required in matrimonial litigation.
Section 25 expressly includes the conduct of the parties — the one maintenance provision where matrimonial conduct is a statutory factor, though it moderates quantum rather than erasing genuine need.
The benchmark is the standard enjoyed during the marriage, tempered by the reality that one household\'s income must now run two.
Length of the marriage, age, health, earning capacity sacrificed for the family, and responsibility for children all shape both form and figure.
Quantum in practice
No formula is prescribed, and the reported range is wide because the inputs are. In recent practice, courts fixing one-time alimony in middle-income cases commonly work from a multiple of annual maintenance needs, adjusted for the assets each side retains, the children\'s future costs (which are the children\'s right, independent of the spouse\'s claim), and the payer\'s realistic liquidity — an order the payer cannot perform is an invitation to execution litigation. Where income is concealed, courts attribute earning capacity from lifestyle, qualifications and past earnings; suppression in the asset affidavit is treated severely. The guiding idea is neither punishment nor windfall: the dependent spouse should not be left destitute by the dissolution, and the paying spouse should not be reduced to it either.
Variation, rescission and enforcement
Subsections (2) and (3) keep the order alive to changed reality. Variation requires a demonstrated change of circumstances of either party — the provision looks forward, so pre-decree facts that could have been argued earlier rarely qualify. Rescission is available on remarriage of the recipient and on the conduct ground in the statute. Enforcement follows the ordinary machinery for decrees: execution under the CPC, with attachment of salary and property available, and the Family Court\'s own enforcement powers. A well-drafted Section 25 order anticipates enforcement — specifying payment dates, security where the payer\'s income is informal, and consequences of default — because the quality of the drafting determines whether the "final" settlement actually ends the litigation.
Strategic notes for both sides
For claimants: plead the marital standard of living with particulars, file a complete asset affidavit, and decide early whether finality (lump sum) or security of income (periodic) serves the client better — the answer differs for a young professional and a sixty-year-old homemaker. For payers: a credible, documented disclosure is the strongest quantum argument available, because courts punish concealment with adverse inferences; and a realistic lump-sum offer at the right moment often buys what years of contest cannot — a clean end.
This is a general explainer on Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and is not legal advice. Parallel provisions exist under the Special Marriage Act and other personal laws, and the interaction of multiple maintenance orders in a given case requires specific advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can claim permanent alimony?
Either spouse. Section 25 is gender-neutral: "any court exercising jurisdiction under this Act may, on application made to it... by the wife or the husband" order maintenance. In practice claims by husbands are rare and succeed mainly where the husband is incapacitated and the wife has substantial means, but the statutory door is open both ways.
When must the claim be made?
At the time of the decree or at any time thereafter. A spouse who did not seek alimony during the divorce can apply afterwards, though long unexplained delay invites scrutiny. The decree itself must exist — Section 25 operates on the passing of a decree under the Act, so a petition dismissed in its entirety is generally understood to carry no Section 25 jurisdiction with it.
Lump sum or monthly — which is better?
A gross one-time sum buys finality: no execution battles, no variation applications, no monthly friction. Periodic payments track the payer's income and can be enhanced, but they also die, default and inflate away. Courts increasingly favour structured lump sums in contested cases precisely because they end the litigation relationship along with the marriage.
Can permanent alimony be changed later?
Yes. Section 25(2) permits variation where there is a change in the circumstances of either party — job loss, serious illness, a windfall. Section 25(3) permits rescission where the recipient remarries or, in the statutory language, has not remained chaste. "Permanent" describes the horizon of the order, not its immutability.