Maintenance — Who Owes a Duty to Whom — KSLU Family Law 1 Notes
Maintenance — Who Owes a Duty to Whom
| Provision | Who can claim | Against whom |
|---|---|---|
| Section 18 | Wife | Husband, during marriage / on certain grounds even while living separately |
| Section 19 | Widowed daughter-in-law | Father-in-law’s estate, out of her deceased husband’s share |
| Section 20 | Aged or infirm parents, and minor/unmarried daughters | Children (sons and daughters alike) |
| Section 22 | Dependants of a deceased Hindu | The estate of the deceased, in the hands of the heirs |
The classic exam trap: students confuse Section 19 (a widow’s claim against her father-in-law’s estate, payable from her late husband’s share) with Section 20 (a child’s duty toward aged parents, an entirely separate relationship and obligation). They are not interchangeable, and an answer that mixes them up loses marks instantly — see the worked problem in Unit II for the full IRAC treatment of exactly this trap (the “widow sues her own father and her father-in-law” pattern, a recurring PYQ favourite).