You may have to pay for dumping girlfriend

You may have to pay for dumping girlfriend

 

Though not recognised by law, SC examines if live-in partners should be entitled to palimony

 

Should the live-in partner of a man be entitled to alimony-like maintenance if they separate? The Supreme Court (SC) is examining the question.

 

On Monday, an SC bench led by justice Markandeya Katju chided a man for being in an intimate relationship with a woman for 14 years but refusing to pay her maintenance on legal grounds. "You spent 14 years with her. She lost her youth but you do not want to pay anything to her. She might not have been legally married to you but you have an obligation," justice Katju, heading the bench, told D Velusamy's counsel.

Velusamy appealed in the SC after a family court in Tamil Nadu (TN) ordered him to pay Rs500 as maintenance to D Patchaiammal, who claims the two were married in 1986. But Velusamy's counsel says the woman's claim is false since his client was married in 1980 and a second marriage without divorce is invalid in the eyes of law.

But the bench said that though the law of the land does not recognise "palimony", there is no reason why a live-in-partner should not be given such benefit. It cited a California court's ruling to substantiate its observation, and said the term palimony arises from the word pal. It implies that a live-in relationship is a sort of "oral agreement".

Velusamy's counsel told the SC that the family and high courts had taken the erroneous view that Patchaiammal was entitled to maintenance under section 125 of the CrPC, which also mandates maintenance to an estranged wife, besides aged parents and children, of a man.

In the US, palimony is a court-ordered financial settlement between two former lovers who, though did not marry, cohabited for a significant period of time. While similar to alimony in principle, there are distinct differences between it and palimony.

The SC bench said palimony should not be invalid in the country, particularly when the apex court has already held that there is nothing illegal if two adults decide to live in out of their own free will without formal marriage.

The desire to cohabit without marrying has been a growing trend since the 1960s. Many couples feel their relationship "does not need a piece of paper" to be validated. Others choose to cohabit to see if their relationship can work before they take the plunge into marriage. Same-gender couples cannot legally marry at all.