What documents a divorce court actually asks for
Nothing delays a matrimonial case as reliably as a file assembled in a hurry. This is the working list, and the reasons behind the items people tend to leave out.
- Order VI CPC — pleadings
- Order XIII CPC — production of documents
- s. 65B Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — electronic records
The core set
- Marriage certificate. Where none exists, proof of solemnisation: photographs of the ceremony, the invitation card, and a witness who attended.
- Identity and address proof for both parties.
- Proof of the address where the parties last resided together — this founds jurisdiction and is frequently the thing nobody has thought about.
- Passport-size photographs.
- A written chronology of the marriage: dates of the marriage, of the birth of children, of separation, of any complaint or notice, and of every proceeding filed by either side. This is not filed as such, but the petition cannot be drafted properly without it.
- Copies of every notice sent or received, and of the papers in every other pending case, with case numbers and the court.
Income and expenditure
Maintenance is decided on documents, and this is where files are usually thinnest. What is needed is income tax returns with computation for three years, Form 16 and twelve months of salary slips, bank statements for every account for at least a year, loan and EMI statements, and — on the expenditure side — rent receipts, school fee receipts and medical bills. For a self-employed party, add GST returns, the profit and loss account and balance sheet, and details of the business.
An unsigned photocopy proves nothing. Documents are proved through the person who can speak to them. A salary slip downloaded and printed, with no witness and no certificate, is routinely objected to and often excluded, and by then the opportunity to obtain a proper copy has passed.
Where a child is involved
Birth certificate; school records including fee structure and attendance; medical records where health is in issue; and evidence of the arrangements each parent proposes — accommodation, school proximity, who will be at home and when.
Messages, recordings and screenshots
Electronic records are admitted subject to the certificate required by section 65B of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, which corresponds to section 65B of the Evidence Act. A screenshot pasted into a document, without the certificate and without the device, is weak evidence and is regularly excluded. The practical guidance is to preserve the original device, avoid deleting anything, export records in full rather than in extracts, and obtain the certificate at the time rather than years later. Selective extracts also carry a risk: producing three messages from a conversation invites production of the rest.
When a document does not exist
Marriages solemnised decades ago, or in villages, frequently have no certificate. Registration can often be done late under the Haryana Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act, 2008. Where that is not possible, the marriage is proved by evidence of the ceremony: photographs, the invitation, and witnesses. Similarly, where bank statements are unavailable, they can be summoned from the bank through the court rather than abandoned.
Discuss your own facts
General information cannot account for the specifics of a marriage, a family or a pending case. A first consultation covers what applies to your situation, what the realistic options are, and what each one is likely to cost and take.