Taxation of matrimonial remedies and spousal rights in India: A socio-legal and fiscal analysis of conjugal rights, maintenance, and marital disputes

Abstract

Marriage in India is not just a social institution it carries deep legal and financial consequences. When marriages break down, courts step in with remedies like maintenance, restitution of conjugal rights, and alimony. But one question that gets surprisingly little attention is: what happens when money changes hands in these situations? Is it taxed? Should it be? This paper looks at how Indian law treats matrimonial remedies from a legal standpoint and how the tax system responds to them. Using a socio-legal lens, it examines the gap between the welfare goals of family law and the revenue-driven logic of tax law. The paper argues that there is a serious need for clarity, uniformity, and fairness in how India handles the fiscal dimensions of matrimonial disputes. Drawing from statutes, case law, and legal scholarship, this paper analyses key remedies restitution of conjugal rights, judicial separation, maintenance, and alimony and maps them onto the existing framework of the Income Tax Act, 1961.