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Can my spouse remarry before our divorce is finalised in Nashik?

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(@Ekansh Chitkara)
Joined: 4 weeks ago
[#1545]
My divorce proceedings are still pending before the Nashik Family Court, but I have learnt that my spouse may be planning to remarry. Is this legally permitted?

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(@advocate-mudit-pratap)
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Joined: 2 months ago

No — and I want to state this with complete clarity, because it is one of the most important legal protections in matrimonial law and is sometimes misunderstood. Under Section 15 of the Hindu Marriage Act, neither party to a subsisting marriage may remarry until the divorce decree has become final — meaning the mandatory appeal period has elapsed without an appeal being filed, or, if an appeal was filed to the Bombay High Court at Mumbai, until that appeal has been disposed of. Remarrying before this point is bigamy, an offence under Section 80 of the BNS (the old Section 494 IPC), and the second marriage is void in law.

Even a divorce decree passed in your favour by the Nashik Family Court does not immediately permit remarriage. Section 15 of the HMA requires the decree to have "become final" — practically, this means the thirty-day appeal window must have elapsed without an appeal being filed at the Bombay HC in Mumbai. If your spouse appeals, neither party can lawfully remarry until that appeal is decided. For mutual consent decrees the position is cleaner in practice since both parties agreed, but the formal finality requirement still applies.

If your spouse has remarried before the divorce decree is final — whether during proceedings or before the appeal period has elapsed — you have a real and serious remedy: a criminal complaint for bigamy under Section 80 BNS before a Nashik Magistrate. The second marriage is void under Section 11 of the HMA, and a spouse who remarries prematurely also damages their own position in any ongoing or subsequent matrimonial or custody litigation, since it demonstrates deliberate disregard for the existing marriage and the court's process. The family law advocates at the Nashik panel of Aapka Legal Advice can advise on the steps available if you suspect or discover premature remarriage.


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