Allahabad High Court Sets Aside Order Denying Maintenance Based on Wife’s Earning Capacity

The Allahabad High Court has held that a wife’s educational qualifications, professional skills, or earning potential alone cannot be used to deny maintenance.

The Court emphasised that merely being capable of earning does not mean the wife is actually financially independent.

It set aside a Family Court order that had rejected maintenance on the assumption that the wife could support herself.

The High Court clarified that the object of maintenance laws is to ensure a woman can live with dignity, and courts must consider actual income and circumstances, not just theoretical earning capacity.

[Binay Kushwaha v. State of U.P.]