The decree: when you are actually divorced
At the second motion the court records your statements, is satisfied that consent still exists, and passes a decree of divorce. That is the end of the marriage. Everything on this page is what follows.
What the decree contains
A short order, and it does more than most people expect:
- That the marriage solemnised on a stated date is dissolved
- The date from which it is dissolved
- Usually, that the terms of settlement are taken on record, and where the court has accepted them, that the parties are bound by them
- Any direction about costs
The settlement being taken on record is the reason to have written it properly. Terms recorded in a decree carry the weight of an order of the court; terms in a private agreement do not.
The date that counts
The marriage ends on the date of the decree, not the date of the second motion hearing if the order is reserved, and not the date you receive a copy. If anything turns on the exact date — a remarriage, a visa, a posting, a benefit — read the order rather than assume.
Get the certified copy
The decree is pronounced in court; the document you will actually be asked for is a certified copy, applied for from the court's copying section. There is a small fee and it takes a few days.
You will need it more often than you expect: for remarriage, for a passport, for insurance and nominations, for pension and provident fund records, for a bank, and sometimes for a school. Get more than one certified copy. A second one costs almost nothing now and is a fresh application later.
Can it be appealed?
Generally no, and this is the part almost nobody mentions.
Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, 1984 provides an appeal against a judgment or order of a family court, to be preferred within thirty days — but the provision expressly excludes an appeal from a decree or order passed with the consent of the parties.
A mutual consent divorce is, by definition, passed with consent. So the ordinary appeal route is closed, which is exactly what you want: the decree is final and neither of you can reopen it because you had second thoughts in week three.
That finality is also the reason a court takes the consent question seriously at the second motion, and the reason the settlement has to be right before it is recorded rather than after.
When you may remarry
Section 15 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides that a divorced person may remarry once the time for appealing has expired without an appeal, or an appeal has been dismissed.
Where the decree is a consent decree and no appeal lies, the practical position is straightforward, but the safe course is the one people skip: wait for the certified copy in hand before fixing anything. A remarriage solemnised on an assumption is a problem that follows you.
What to change afterwards
Nobody does this in the first month, and every one of them causes trouble later:
- Nominations. Insurance, provident fund, pension, bank accounts, demat. A nomination in a former spouse's name survives a divorce until you change it.
- Your will. A divorce does not rewrite it.
- Joint accounts and lockers. Close or convert them.
- The loan. Getting a name off a title does not get it off the loan; that is a separate process with the lender, and until it is done the liability remains.
- Employer and HR records, medical insurance dependants, and emergency contacts.
- Passport and other records, where marital status appears.
The settlement should already say who does which of these, and by when. See the settlement agreement.
A name change is separate
Reverting to a former surname is not part of the decree. It is done the ordinary way — an affidavit, a gazette publication where the state requires it, then updating records one by one. Nothing about the divorce does it automatically.
If the terms are not honoured
The advantage of terms recorded in a decree is that you are enforcing an order of the court rather than suing on a contract. What that means in practice depends on the term — a maintenance direction, a property transfer and an undertaking are each enforced differently — and it is worth taking advice early rather than waiting for a pattern of default to establish itself.
What to do next
If you are here before the second motion, the thing to take from this page is that the decree makes the settlement permanent. That is the argument for finishing it properly now. A guided session is where that gets done.