Maintenance orders are not carved in stone. They respond to changed circumstances, and few changes are as significant as a remarriage. Yet the consequences differ sharply depending on who remarries, under which statute the maintenance was granted, and whose maintenance is in question. A divorced wife's own claim generally ends on her remarriage; a husband's remarriage does not extinguish his obligations to his first family; and the children's entitlement survives everything. This explainer maps the statutory scheme under the BNSS and the Hindu Marriage Act.
Three different questions, three different answers
"What happens to maintenance after remarriage?" is really three questions: the remarriage of the recipient wife, the remarriage of the paying husband, and the position of the children. The statutes answer each differently.
Wife remarries
Her own maintenance under Section 144 BNSS ends prospectively; alimony under Section 25 HMA can be rescinded under Section 25(3). Accrued arrears survive.
Husband remarries
His obligation to the first wife and children continues. The new household is only a factor in assessing his means — never a discharge.
Children
Their maintenance is untouched by either parent's remarriage. The right belongs to the child, not to the custodial parent.
The divorced wife under Section 144 BNSS
Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — the successor to Section 125 CrPC — includes within "wife" a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband and has not remarried. That condition does the work: a divorced woman's statutory claim is premised on her not having remarried. Once she does, the foundation of the order falls away, and the husband can seek cancellation under Section 146 BNSS (the successor to Section 127 CrPC) with effect from the date of remarriage.
Two qualifications matter in practice. First, the change is not self-executing: until the order is varied or cancelled, it stands, and enforcement of accrued arrears for the pre-remarriage period is unaffected. Second, the husband must prove the remarriage; suspicion or social-media inference is routinely tested in evidence.
Permanent alimony under Section 25 HMA
Section 25(1) permits the court, at or after the passing of any decree, to award permanent alimony to either spouse. Section 25(3) then provides the exit: if the party in whose favour the order was made has remarried — or, in the case of a wife, has not remained chaste, or, in the case of a husband, has had sexual intercourse with any woman outside wedlock — the court may, on the other party's application, vary, modify or rescind the order. Remarriage of the recipient is thus a codified ground for rescission, applied on an application supported by proof.
Lump-sum settlements stand on a different footing. Where alimony was paid as a one-time amount in full and final settlement, there is ordinarily nothing left to rescind; the finality of the settlement governs, a principle the Supreme Court reinforced only this week in the context of DV Act claims.
The husband who remarries
A husband cannot divorce, remarry and plead the expenses of the new household as a reason to abandon the old one. His obligation to maintain his former wife (until her remarriage) and his children is a continuing statutory duty. When quantum is assessed or revised, courts do count the number of dependants sharing his income — the second wife and any children of the second marriage are real mouths to feed — but this operates as an apportionment factor within his means, not as a defence to liability.
Children: the constant in the equation
Section 144(1)(b) and (c) BNSS obliges a person with sufficient means to maintain his legitimate or illegitimate minor children, and adult children unable to maintain themselves by reason of physical or mental abnormality or injury. Section 26 HMA and Section 20 HAMA add the personal-law layer, with Section 20(3) HAMA extending a father's obligation to the reasonable marriage expenses of an unmarried daughter. None of these provisions is conditioned on the parents' marital status remaining unchanged. Courts in Delhi routinely continue, and where needed enhance, children's maintenance notwithstanding the remarriage of either parent.
Practice note: A remarriage-based application under Section 146 BNSS or Section 25(3) HMA should be filed promptly with the best available proof of the remarriage, and should ask for variation only from the date of remarriage — overreaching claims to recover past payments already made towards accrued arrears rarely succeed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a divorced wife lose maintenance under Section 144 BNSS when she remarries?
Yes, prospectively. The definition of wife in the Explanation to Section 144 BNSS (as under the former Section 125 CrPC) covers a divorced woman who has not remarried. On remarriage she ceases to fall within the definition, and the former husband may apply for cancellation of the order from that date. Arrears already accrued for the earlier period remain payable.
Can permanent alimony under Section 25 HMA be cancelled on remarriage?
Section 25(3) HMA expressly empowers the court to vary, modify or rescind an alimony order if the party in whose favour it was made has remarried. The order is not automatically wiped out — an application must be made — but remarriage of the recipient is a statutory ground on which rescission is ordinarily granted.
Does the father's remarriage reduce the maintenance payable to his children?
No. The children's entitlement under Section 144 BNSS, Section 26 HMA and Section 20 HAMA is unaffected by either parent's remarriage. Courts do take the father's fresh family responsibilities into account as one factor when assessing his disposable income, but the obligation to the children of the first marriage continues undiminished in principle.
Does the mother's remarriage disentitle children in her custody?
No. The maintenance belongs to the children, not to the mother who receives it on their behalf. Her remarriage may end her own claim, but the children's claim against their father continues — for sons until majority, and for unmarried daughters, under Hindu law, obligations can extend to marriage expenses under Section 20(3) HAMA.