Allahabad High Court: Right to Contest Divorce Ends After Death of Spouse

The Allahabad High Court held that the right to contest a divorce does not survive after the death of a spouse, emphasising the personal nature of matrimonial proceedings.

The case arose when a woman sought to set aside a 1991 ex parte divorce decree more than three decades later, after her former husband had remarried and passed away.

The Court found such belated proceedings legally unsustainable, particularly as they sought to unsettle settled rights of the second wife and children.

It ruled that matrimonial causes cannot continue against a deceased person, and allowing such claims would create uncertainty in legal and familial relationships.

[Smt. Geeta Rani & Ors v. Smt. Maya Devi & Ors.]