Divorce lawyer in Thane: family court cases, settlements and fees

Meeting a divorce lawyer from Thane at our Sanpada office

We do not have an office in Thane. Our only office is at Office 219, Haware Intelligentia Park, Plot No. 33, Sector-24, Sanpada-Turbhe Road, Navi Mumbai 400783, and most Thane clients reach it in about half an hour, either down the Thane-Belapur Road or on the trans-harbour line, where Sanpada is a stop on the Thane to Vashi service.

Meetings are by appointment, Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 6 PM, so that the advocate has read your papers before you sit down. Many people from Thane West, Ghodbunder Road and Kalwa prefer not to be seen walking into a lawyer's office near home, and an office across the creek suits them. If travelling is hard, the same consultation works by phone, WhatsApp or video call, with papers sent by email.

Who handles your matter

Your file is led by Adv. Swanand Pandit (BLS, LL.B, LL.M, PGDBM, JAIIB), Advocate, High Court of Bombay, with Adv. Ashok Ingle (B.A. LL.B) preparing filings and keeping you updated between dates. Call +91 8291849797 or +91 9167710454, or write to info@vivs.in. Where a hearing at the Thane Family Court needs attendance, we tell you at the first meeting who will appear and what that adds to the fee.

Which family court hears a divorce if you live in Thane?

The Family Court, Thane hears divorce, maintenance and custody cases for its area. It sits in the Family Court building inside the District Court compound at Court Naka, Thane West. Under Sections 7 and 8 of the Family Courts Act 1984, these cases go to the family court rather than to an ordinary civil court.

Two rules decide your options. Section 19 of the Hindu Marriage Act lets a petition be filed where the marriage took place, where the respondent lives, where you last lived together or, if the wife is filing, where she lives now. The state notification under the Family Courts Act then fixes which family court covers each of those places.

Take a couple married in Nashik who last lived together in a flat on Ghodbunder Road. The wife has since moved back to her parents in Vashi. She can file at Nashik, where they married, at Thane, where they last lived together, or at Belapur, where she lives now. If the husband files, Belapur is open to him as well, because that is where she, the respondent, now lives. Choosing well saves dozens of trips over a contested case.

Appeals from the Thane Family Court go to the Bombay High Court under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act. Under Section 13 of that Act a party has no automatic right to a lawyer in the family court, so we apply for the court's leave, which is commonly given.

Divorce and family cases we handle for Thane clients

We act in every kind of matrimonial case that reaches the Thane Family Court, and in the criminal and magistrate's court matters that often run beside it.

Mutual consent divorce

A joint petition under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, or Section 28 of the Special Marriage Act 1954 for a registered civil marriage. You must have lived separately for at least a year and agree on every term: alimony, stridhan, the children, the flat and any pending cases.

Contested divorce

One spouse files under Section 13 and proves a ground, most often cruelty or desertion for two years or more. Our guide to grounds for divorce under Hindu law explains what evidence each ground needs.

Maintenance, alimony and custody

Interim maintenance under Section 24 and permanent alimony under Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, and maintenance under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (earlier Section 125 CrPC), which the family court hears where one has been set up. Since Rajnesh v Neha (2020) both spouses file an affidavit of income, assets and liabilities early on. Custody is decided on the child's welfare under the Guardians and Wards Act 1890 and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956.

Domestic violence cases

An application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 is made to a magistrate, who can pass protection, residence and monetary orders, and interim orders under Section 23 where waiting would put the woman at risk. Inside a pending divorce, the family court can grant the same reliefs under Section 26.

Other personal laws

Muslim wives can seek dissolution under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939, and Christian couples divorce under the Divorce Act 1869, where mutual consent under Section 10A needs two years of separation. The court and the steps change with the law that governs your marriage, which we settle at the first meeting.

The divorce process at the Thane Family Court, step by step

Most couples who can still agree take the mutual consent route, which runs in six stages at Thane:

1. Agree the terms in writing. Alimony and when each instalment is paid, stridhan item by item, custody and access, the flat and its loan, and which other cases are withdrawn, by whom and by when.
2. File the joint petition. Under Section 13B, with affidavits, the marriage certificate, photographs and address proofs, at the court you chose under Section 19.
3. Counselling and first motion. Section 9 of the Family Courts Act requires the court to try for a settlement, so you meet the court's marriage counsellor before the judge records both statements.
4. The six-month gap, or a waiver. The second motion can be moved six months after filing and within eighteen months. Under Amardeep Singh v Harveen Kaur (2017) the court can waive the gap where you have been apart for eighteen months, mediation has failed and nothing is left to settle.
5. Second motion and decree. Both of you confirm consent, the court checks the agreed payments, and the decree is passed.
6. Carry out the terms. Collect the certified copy, transfer the flat or the society shares, close joint accounts and withdraw the agreed cases.

When one spouse will not agree

A contested case begins with notice to the other spouse, then counselling and usually a reference to the court's mediation centre. Interim maintenance and custody are decided while the case runs. If mediation fails, the written statement, issues, evidence on affidavit, cross-examination and arguments follow. A large share of contested Thane cases settle at mediation and are converted into a mutual consent petition, which is often the quickest way out. For a plain-language walk through each hearing, read our guide to divorce in Thane and the family court process.

What does a divorce lawyer in Thane charge?

There is no fixed rate, and a figure quoted before anyone reads your papers is a guess. Divorce lawyer fees in Thane depend on how much work the case will actually need, and four things drive that:

• The route. Agreed terms need a handful of hearings; a contested case can need dozens over two to four years.
• Connected cases. A maintenance petition, a Domestic Violence Act application or an FIR each has its own dates.
• Extra applications. A waiver of the six-month gap, interim custody, or a petition in the Bombay High Court to quash an FIR after settlement under Section 528 BNSS (earlier Section 482 CrPC).
• Property. Whether a flat, a redevelopment entitlement or a business has to be valued, transferred or protected.

Court fees on the petition itself are small. After the first consultation we give you a written quote stage by stage, so you know what each stage costs before it starts and nothing is added without your agreement.

Questions to ask about fees

• Is the fee a lump sum, per stage or per hearing?
• Which costs are extra: court fees, typing, notarisation, travel?
• How are connected cases charged if they start later?
• What happens to the fee if the case settles early?

How to choose the best divorce lawyer in Thane for your case

The best divorce lawyer in Thane for you is the one who practises regularly in family courts, tells you plainly whether mutual consent is realistic, and puts the fee in writing. Reviews and rankings tell you little about how your own case will be run.

What to look for

• Regular practice before the Thane, Belapur or Bandra family courts, and experience of the court's mediation centre, where many Thane cases settle.
• Attention to money from the start: maintenance, the flat, the home loan and the disclosure affidavit.
• Honesty about weak points and realistic timelines.
• A named person who handles your file and answers your messages.

Warning signs

• A promise of a decree within weeks, or of a certain result.
• Pressure to file a criminal complaint purely as a bargaining tool, without advice on what it does to settlement.
• Advice to hide income or move assets before filing.
• No written fee terms.

Meet two or three lawyers before deciding, and bring the same short note of facts to each meeting so you can compare their advice fairly.

The flat, the home loan and redevelopment in a Thane divorce

A divorce decree does not change who owns a flat. In Thane, the flat is often the largest asset, and it is frequently tangled with a home loan or a society redevelopment, so it needs its own plan in the consent terms.

• Flat in one spouse's name. Marriage alone gives the other spouse no ownership share, but the court can weigh the owner's property when it fixes permanent alimony under Section 25.
• Jointly owned flat. One share moves to the other spouse by a registered release or gift deed, stamped under the Maharashtra Stamp Act and registered at a Thane sub-registrar's office, after which the society transfers the shares.
• Joint home loan. The bank has to agree before either borrower is released. Terms that ignore the lender tend to unravel later.
• Building under redevelopment. Many older Thane societies have signed with a developer. What a spouse owns then is an entitlement under the permanent alternate accommodation agreement: a new flat and monthly rent until it is ready. The consent terms should say who gets the new flat, who receives the rent, and that the developer will be told in writing.
• Flat owned by the in-laws. Under Section 17 of the Domestic Violence Act a wife cannot be evicted from the shared household except by due process. In Satish Chander Ahuja v Sneha Ahuja (2020) the Supreme Court held this can cover a flat owned by the husband's parents. It is a right to reside, not ownership.

Where property is part of the settlement, we check its title and draft the transfer deed alongside the divorce. Our property lawyer page for Thane explains redevelopment entitlements and society transfers in detail.

Documents for a divorce petition filed in Thane

• Marriage certificate, or the invitation card and wedding photographs if the marriage was never registered
• Address proof for both spouses and the address of your last shared home, which decides the court
• Something that dates the separation, such as a rent agreement or dated messages
• Salary slips, income tax returns and bank statements for the Rajnesh v Neha affidavit
• Flat papers: agreement for sale, Index II, share certificate, loan statements and, if the building is being redeveloped, the developer's agreement with you
• An item-wise list of stridhan and who holds each item now
• Children's birth certificates and school fee receipts
• Any notice, police complaint, FIR or court papers you have received

Bring copies to the first meeting. Originals are needed only when the petition is filed and statements are recorded.

How long a divorce takes in Thane

The route decides the time far more than the court does. These are the usual ranges at the Thane Family Court:

Two dates matter most. The second motion must be moved within eighteen months of filing, or the petition can lapse. And a contested case moves only as fast as its slowest connected matter, so we plan maintenance, Domestic Violence Act and criminal proceedings together rather than one at a time.

Divorce help beyond Thane

If your spouse lives across the creek, the case may belong at Belapur; our divorce lawyer page for Navi Mumbai covers that court, a short drive from our office. For a case at Bandra, see the Mumbai divorce lawyer page. If one of you lives abroad, our NRI divorce services explain jurisdiction, video appearances and recognition of a foreign decree. For other cities, where we advise online, start with the divorce lawyer India overview, or book a consultation and we will tell you where your case belongs.