WOMEN`S SHARE IN HUSBAND`S PROPERTY IN CASE OF DIVORCE – AN AMENDMENT.                               

The law ministry has proposed an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the Special Marriage Act, 1954. A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took up new amendments to the Marriage Laws and approved fresh amendments in a Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha to give the wife a clearly defined share in the husband’s immovable residential property in case of a divorce and the (Amendment) Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha earlier this month. The government also decided to retain the mandatory six-month cooling-off period, which the Bill had proposed to do away with in case of divorce by mutual consent. In the event if both the parties desire to waive of the cooling-off period, both the parties will have to move the application together. Once the divorce is granted, the woman will have to move an application to get a share in her husband’s property as part of the settlement and decided to give the wife and children a clearly defined share in the husband’s “immovable residential property” in case of a split.