Documents for a Section 13B petition in Ghaziabad: the checklist and why each paper matters

Proof of marriage

Marriage certificate, or the wedding card and photographs where it was not registered.

Identity

Aadhaar or passport and address proof for both spouses, with passport-size photographs.

The settlement

Signed by both, covering alimony, custody, stridhan and the withdrawal of cases.

Where to bring them

Chamber 817, District Court Complex, Raj Nagar District Centre (RDC), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201002. Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 9 pm.

A mutual consent divorce petition in Ghaziabad needs fewer documents than almost any other case the chamber files. The list fits on one page. What goes wrong is not the length of the list but a missing paper discovered at the filing counter, or a settlement that does not cover something the court will ask about. This article goes through each document, explains what the Family Court does with it, and says what to do when it cannot be found.

Proof of the marriage

The petition dissolves a marriage, so the first thing on the file is proof that there is one. The marriage certificate from the registering authority is the direct proof. In Ghaziabad that is the Sub-Registrar for a marriage registered under the Hindu Marriage Act through the UP registration rules, or the Nagar Nigam where it was registered under the municipal rules, and a certified copy can be obtained from the same office if the original is lost.

Where the marriage was never registered, which is still common for marriages solemnised at home or in a temple, the wedding invitation card and photographs of the ceremony are filed instead, and the spouses' own statements establish the marriage. The court may ask for an affidavit of a relative who attended. Nobody is refused a Section 13B decree for want of a certificate.

Identity and address of both spouses

Aadhaar card or passport, and address proof, for each spouse, with passport-size photographs for the petition and the affidavits. Address proof matters beyond identity: it fixes the jurisdiction of the Family Court under Section 19 of the Act, and it is the evidence of separate residence that supports the date of separation. A spouse who moved out to a rented flat in Vasundhara produces the rent agreement; a spouse who went back to a parental home in Delhi produces the Aadhaar updated to that address or a utility bill there.

Whatever fixes the date of separation

Section 13B(1) requires one year of separate living before the petition. The waiver of the six-month wait under Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur, (2017) 8 SCC 746, requires eighteen months of it. The date is pleaded in the petition and the judge asks about it at the first motion. Anything that fixes it is filed: the rent agreement of the spouse who left, the children's school record at the new address, a police application or complaint that mentions the separation, messages in which it is discussed. The waiver article explains why this date is the one the court tests hardest.

The settlement

The settlement, usually a memorandum of understanding signed by both spouses, is the document the petition rests on. It is annexed to the petition and the court reads it at both motions. It covers permanent alimony and how it is paid, with the account and the date; custody of the children and the visitation schedule; the return of stridhan and the articles of the marriage, with a list; and the withdrawal of every case pending between the families. Where a payment or a return has already happened, the receipt or the bank entry goes on the file so the court sees the settlement is being performed. A settlement that leaves a pending case untouched invites the question at the first motion that stops the petition.

The children

Birth certificates of the children, and the school records that show who they live with. The Family Court is bound to consider the welfare of the children in a decree, and the settlement's custody terms are read against these papers. Where a child is old enough to express a view the court may speak to the child.

Pending cases between the families

A copy of every FIR, complaint, petition or application pending between the spouses or their families: a case under Section 85 BNS (the old 498A IPC), a maintenance case under Section 144 BNSS, a domestic violence complaint, a case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, a civil suit. The court asks whether anything is pending, and the settlement has to say what happens to each. A 498A FIR cannot simply be withdrawn; it is quashed by the Allahabad High Court after the settlement, and the petition provides for that.

Where a spouse is abroad

The Special Power of Attorney in favour of a relative in India, attested at the Indian Embassy or Consulate or apostilled, and stamped in India after it arrives; a copy of the passport of the spouse abroad; and a note of the hours that spouse can appear by video. The NRI mutual divorce article covers the rest.

What the chamber prepares from these

From the documents above the chamber drafts the joint petition under Section 13B, the affidavits of both spouses verifying it, the settlement if it is not yet in writing, the application for waiver of the six-month period where the facts support it, and the application for recording a statement by video where a spouse is abroad. The nominal court fee is paid by stamp on filing. The documents checklist for every kind of case has the same list in short form, next to the lists for bail, cheque bounce and property matters.

Copies or scans are enough to begin; originals are needed at filing and at the motions. Send them on WhatsApp or bring them to Chamber 817, and the chamber will tell you the same day whether the file is complete for a mutual consent divorce in Ghaziabad or what is still missing.

Read next

• First motion to second motion: what happens at each hearing
• Cooling-off period waiver: the Amardeep Singh test
• Lawyer fees for a mutual consent divorce: what the engagement covers

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