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

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(@Ruchi Chadha)
Joined: 4 weeks ago
[#1639]
My divorce proceedings are still pending before the Vadodara 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 the answer is the same regardless of what your spouse may claim or what informal assurances they may have received. 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 expired without an appeal being filed, or, if an appeal has been filed to the Gujarat High Court at Ahmedabad, 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 decree of divorce passed in your favour by the Vadodara Family Court does not immediately permit remarriage. Section 15 of the Hindu Marriage Act makes clear that the right to remarry arises only when the divorce is final and no appeal is pending. In practice this means: after the decree is passed, the thirty-day appeal window must elapse without an appeal being filed before remarriage is lawful; if your spouse appeals to the Gujarat HC in Ahmedabad, neither party can lawfully remarry until that appeal is decided. For mutual consent decrees, the position is cleaner in practice — since both parties agreed, appeals are rare — but the formal finality requirement still applies.

If your spouse has remarried while your divorce proceedings are ongoing or before the decree has become final, you have a real and serious remedy. A criminal complaint for bigamy under Section 80 BNS before a Vadodara Magistrate is available, and the second marriage is void under Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act. A spouse who remarries prematurely also damages their own position in any ongoing or subsequent matrimonial litigation, since it demonstrates conscious disregard for both the marriage and the court's process. The family law advocates at the Vadodara panel of Aapka Legal Advice can advise on the exact steps available if you suspect or discover premature remarriage.


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