What actually happens on the day of the hearing

Every guide explains the law and none of them explain the day. This one is about the day: where you go, how long you sit there, who speaks, what you are asked and what you say.

For a mutual consent divorce there are two such days, six months apart. They are shorter and less dramatic than almost everyone expects.

Before you go

Carry the originals. Whatever was filed in copy — marriage certificate, address and identity proof, the settlement — bring the original. You may not be asked. If you are asked and do not have it, the matter is adjourned.

Reach early. Family court complexes in the metros are large, parking is difficult, and there is a security queue. Being late is an adjournment; being early costs an hour.

Dress ordinarily and plainly. Nobody is assessing your clothes; looking as though you are taking the proceedings seriously is enough.

Phones are restricted in many complexes. Check before you arrive.

Finding the courtroom

Your matter has an item number on the day's cause list. The list is displayed outside the courtroom and usually online. Your advocate will know the court number and the item.

Then you wait. Matters are called in order, an item is disposed of in minutes, and yours may be called within the first hour or after lunch. This is the part people are least prepared for: most of the day is waiting, and the hearing itself is short.

The first motion

When the item is called, both of you go before the judge with your advocate.

The court's task is to satisfy itself that the petition is genuine, that neither of you is under pressure, and that you understand what you are signing. The questions are simple and usually put directly to each of you:

• Are you [name], and is this your signature?
• Have you been living separately, and since when?
• Have you tried to live together, and has it not worked?
• Is this petition being filed of your own free will?
• Do you understand the terms of the settlement?
• Is anybody forcing or pressuring you?

Answer in your own words, in the language you are comfortable in. Courts in India routinely conduct these exchanges in the regional language or Hindi, and interpretation is available.

Your statements are then recorded and you sign them. That is the hearing. It commonly takes five to fifteen minutes.

Then six months

The wait under section 13B(2) runs from the first motion. See what the six-month cooling-off period really means for when it can be waived.

Diarise the second motion on the day you file the first. It must be made after six months and before eighteen, and the outer limit has ended more petitions than any judge has.

The second motion

The same shape. Both of you attend, the court confirms that consent still stands — it must exist at the first motion and still at the second — and your statements are recorded a second time.

If the court is satisfied, it passes the decree of divorce. Sometimes it is pronounced there; sometimes it is reserved and released shortly after.

Afterwards

Get the certified copy of the decree. You will need it for everything that follows — changing records, remarriage, visa matters. Ask your advocate to apply for it rather than assume it arrives.

Do what the settlement says. Transfers, payments and account closures have dates in the settlement; a decree does not perform them.

Change the nominations. Policies, funds, accounts. Nobody does this and it causes problems years later.

If it does not go smoothly

Adjournment is common and not a sign of trouble — a judge on leave, a heavy list, a missing document.

Referral to mediation usually means the settlement has a gap in it. Fill the gap; the matter comes back.

One party withdraws consent. Consent must exist at both motions, and either party may withdraw it up to the decree. If that happens, the mutual consent petition cannot proceed, and what follows is a different and much longer matter.

What to do next

If you would like to know what your own hearing will look like, in your own court, a guided session is fifty minutes with an advocate who appears there, and your papers drafted afterwards.