So basically my wife just left me. Like that’s literally what happened. I came home from work one day and she was crying in the bedroom. I asked what’s wrong and she’s like, “I can’t do this anymore.” I thought she meant that day, like she was having a bad day. She’s like, “No. Us. I can’t do us anymore.” In moments like this, when everything feels overwhelming, many people turn to Top Divorce Lawyers in Delhi to understand their rights and the next steps.
I just stood there. Didn’t know what to say. She’s like, “I’m going to stay at my parents’ for a few days.” Few days? I was like, what does that mean? Few days? She packed a bag and left. That was three months ago. She never came back.
I’ve got two kids. Aditya is 8. Priya is 11. I remember Aditya asking me where mom went and I literally couldn’t tell him. What do you even say to an 8-year-old? I think I said something like she needed some time away. He seemed confused. I was confused. Everything was confusing.
So then I had to call my brother Vikram because I had no idea what to do. He’s older and married and I thought maybe he’d have some advice. I’m like, “Vikram, Priya left.” He goes, “What do you mean she left?” “Like… she packed a bag and went to her parents’ house.” There’s silence and then he’s like, “Dude you need a lawyer like immediately. Don’t talk to her about money or property or anything without a lawyer. Just don’t.”
I was like, a lawyer? For what? He goes, “For a divorce man. This is a divorce.” I felt like I was gonna throw up when he said that. Divorce. Like that’s a real word now for my situation. Not just a fight, not just a rough patch. An actual divorce.
That’s when I realized I had no clue what I was doing. Like zero clue. I didn’t know if I’d get to keep my kids. I didn’t know what happened to the house. I didn’t know if she could take all the money. I didn’t know anything. So I started calling around looking for lawyers. And that’s when I discovered that finding top divorce lawyers in Delhi is actually way harder than I thought it would be.
The Whole Lawyer Search Was A Nightmare
I Called So Many People And Everyone Sounded Sketchy
I just started Googling divorce lawyers in Delhi. Literally just typed it in. Got like a thousand results. Started calling random numbers.
First guy I called was named Rajesh. He picks up and I’m explaining my situation. He keeps interrupting me saying “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I handle these cases all the time. We always win.” I’m like, always win? How do you always win? Doesn’t someone have to lose? He’s like, “Yeah but the other side is usually stupid.”
That made me uncomfortable. I don’t think my wife is stupid. I just think we’re not compatible anymore. He also told me he’d charge me ₹1,00,000 upfront just to take the case. I don’t have ₹1,00,000 just sitting around. I have rent and groceries and my kids’ school fees. This seemed excessive.
Then I called this woman named Priya and she was super intense. Like immediately she’s going into attack mode. “Your wife is gonna try to take everything from you. We need to fight hard. We need to prepare for war.” War? I don’t want a war. I just want to not lose my kids and figure out the house situation.
I called this other guy and he didn’t even pick up. Called back three times. Nothing. Then I called someone and they told me to just handle it myself. Don’t waste money on a lawyer. Their friend’s cousin did it without a lawyer and it was fine. I’m like, okay, but was it actually fine or do you just not know?
I called like 20 people. Twenty. Some didn’t answer. Some wanted crazy amounts of money upfront. Some were aggressive. Some seemed nice but then kept trying to upsell me. Like, one guy told me I’d need a “property assessment” and a “forensic audit” and all these expensive things. I don’t even know what those are.
I was getting more stressed instead of less stressed.
I Tried Asking My Friends And Regretted It Immediately
My buddy Rahul, he’s been through divorce. I asked him for advice. He’s like, “Man don’t get a lawyer. Lawyers are just leeches who make money off your suffering. My brother got divorced without a lawyer and it went smooth.”
I’m like, really? That’s amazing. He’s like, “Yeah man, just talk to your wife, figure it out between you two, sign some papers, boom, done.” Okay so maybe I don’t need a lawyer?
Then my other friend Arjun overhears this and he’s like, “WHAT? Dude that’s terrible advice. My dad didn’t get a lawyer for his divorce and he got absolutely destroyed. He ended up losing like half his retirement savings because he didn’t know the law. Got a lawyer two years later and it was too late.”
So which is it? Do I need a lawyer or not? Arjun’s telling me horror stories and Rahul’s telling me it’s super simple. My coworker Nikhil overhead me talking about this and he’s like, “Bro, get a lawyer. My neighbor didn’t and his wife claimed she bought the house and now he’s in court for like five years trying to prove his half.”
FIVE YEARS? Over a house? That’s insane. So apparently I do need a lawyer.
I Didn’t Understand Any Of The Legal Stuff
I went on YouTube and started watching divorce videos. Some lawyer in Bangalore is talking about “grounds for divorce” and “Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act” and “mutual consent divorce” and I’m just sitting there feeling dumb as hell.
Mutual consent? Does that mean we have to agree? But she left me. Is that mutual? I don’t know. One video said you need to be separated for two years before you can get divorced. Another video said you can do it immediately if both people agree. Another video said the process takes 6 months. Another said it takes 3 years. Nothing matches up.
Then there’s all this stuff about maintenance. Like she gets money from me every month forever? That’s the impression I got. But for how long? How much? When does it stop? I called my dad and he didn’t know either. He was like, “Back in my day you got divorced and that was it, you paid nothing.” But apparently that’s not how it works now.
I tried to read legal websites and my brain just shut off. “The marital property shall be divided in accordance with the principle of equitable distribution…” What does equitable mean? Is that the same as equal? Are there different things? I couldn’t figure it out.
So I knew I was in over my head.
Randomly Someone Gave Me A Good Number
I was at the gym talking to this guy Ashok while we were on the treadmills. I’m telling him my situation, like just venting to a stranger basically. He says, “Dude, my cousin went through exactly this. Had a good lawyer, made it way less painful.”
I’m like, do you have her number? He’s like, “Yeah but let me call my cousin first, make sure she’s not too busy.” He texts me like an hour later with a name and number. Simran Kaur. Some law office.
I called her and she picked up immediately. I was shocked. Most people weren’t picking up. She’s like, “Hi, can I help you?” I’m like, “My wife left me and I think I need a divorce lawyer.” She’s like, “Okay, when can you come in?”
Just like that. Super straightforward. I said I could come tomorrow. She’s like, “Cool, I’m in Karol Bagh, tomorrow at 3?” I said yes and that was it.
First Meeting With Simran Changed Everything
She Actually Listened Instead Of Just Talking
I went to her office. It was literally just a small place in a building. Nothing fancy. No receptionist. She was just there working. She made me sit down and made tea. Actual tea, not just like, a gesture. She gave me a cup and then sat across from me.
She’s like, “Tell me everything. The whole story. Don’t worry about how it sounds, just tell me what happened.” So I did. I told her about the marriage. How we met in college. How we got married. How we moved to Delhi for my job. How she stayed home for the first few years with the kids. How she went back to work. How things just got weird between us. How she left three months ago.
I’m like, “Now she’s saying she wants half the house and she wants the kids mostly with her and she wants money from me every month.”
Simran just wrote stuff down. Didn’t interrupt me. Let me finish. Then she asked questions. “How long have you been married?” “Do you have kids?” “Are there any other issues?” “Has she mentioned hiring a lawyer?” “Do you have documents for the house?” “How much do you earn?” “How much does she earn?”
Like actual questions. Not like, assumptions. Just gathering information.
She Told Me The Real Situation
After like 45 minutes she put her pen down and she’s like, “Okay so here’s what I think is happening. Your wife is probably not going to get the house. You’ll probably get primary custody of the kids. But you’re going to have to pay her money every month and that’s just how it works.”
I’m like, even though she left me? She’s like, “Yeah. It doesn’t matter who left. The courts don’t care about that.”
I felt weird about that. Like, she left, but I still have to give her money? Simran’s like, “Look, she may have stayed home for years. She may have sacrificed her career for your family. Even though she left, that history matters. You’ll pay something. How much we can negotiate, but you’ll pay something.”
I don’t like it but I appreciated her being honest about it instead of promising me everything.
She Wasn’t Some Aggressive Fighter
I asked her, “So what do we do? Like, do we go to court and fight?” She’s like, “Not necessarily. Most cases settle. You fight when you have to, but usually people end up negotiating and working things out. Fighting is expensive and takes forever.”
I was like, “So we can just… talk to her and figure it out?” She’s like, “Maybe. We’ll see. First we need to file a petition with the court. Then we’ll see what she does. Maybe she’ll want to settle. Maybe she’ll want to fight. We’ll respond accordingly.”
That sounded reasonable. Not aggressive. Not too passive. Just… reasonable.
She Charged Me ₹30,000 Just To Start
She told me her fee. She wanted ₹30,000 upfront for initial consultation and preparing the case. Then ₹2,000 per court hearing. Then miscellaneous stuff like filing fees and document costs would be separate.
I was like, ₹30,000? That’s a lot of money for me. She’s like, “Yeah I know it’s not cheap. But if you go to court without a lawyer and mess something up, you’ll spend way more than that fixing it later. Or if your wife doesn’t have a lawyer and claims you hid property, you’ll be fighting that for years.”
I didn’t have the money right at that moment but she said, “Don’t worry, we can start the paperwork, you can give me the money whenever.” So we started working on the case before I even paid her. That made me trust her more because she wasn’t just extracting money first.
I told my parents and my dad was like, “₹30,000? That’s too much.” My mom was like, “Better than losing the house.” My mom won, obviously.
Actually Going Through The Process
Gathering Documents Was Insane
Simran gave me a list of stuff I needed to collect. Like 30 items. Property papers. Marriage certificate. Birth certificates for the kids. Bank statements. Tax returns. Investment statements. Everything.
I had to go through filing cabinets and old boxes. Some stuff I didn’t even know where it was. I called my wife’s parents to ask if they had a copy of the marriage certificate. That was awkward. My mother-in-law knew what was happening and we haven’t really talked since the separation. She gave me a copy though.
I had to go to the bank and get statements for like five years. Had to dig through emails to find investment stuff. Had to find tax returns. It took me like three weeks just to gather everything. Then I had to organize it and send it to Simran.
She Drafted This Petition Thing
Simran drafted what’s called a “petition for divorce.” Basically a legal document that explains why I want a divorce, what I’m asking for, information about the kids, information about the property, all of it. It was like 10 pages.
She sent it to me and I read it. It was weird reading all my personal stuff written in legal language. But it was accurate. She’d taken everything I told her and organized it into this document that would go to the court.
She asked me to review it and make sure everything was correct. I found like one error. She fixed it. Then she said, “We need to file this with the court. When we do, your wife will get a copy. Once she gets it, she’ll have to respond.”
I felt like I was crossing some kind of line. Like, once I file this, it’s real. Before this it was just separation. After this it’s officially divorce. I was nervous but also like, this has to happen.
We Filed It With The Court
Simran and I went to the family court together. It’s this old building, kinda rundown, lots of people everywhere. Papers everywhere. Chaos. Simran knew where to go though. We went to some window, handed over the petition and all the documents and paid court fees.
The lady at the window basically just looked at it and was like, “Okay, next hearing is in three weeks.” Three weeks? That’s it? We were done? Simran’s like, “Yeah, they’ll send your wife a notice, she’ll get a copy of the petition, then at the next hearing the judge will check that everything is in order and set a timeline.”
I felt relieved and terrified at the same time. Like, okay, it’s actually happening now. This is real. My wife is gonna get a letter saying I’ve filed for divorce.
First Hearing Was Scary
The hearing was scheduled for November 15th. I remember writing that down and staring at it on my calendar. Like three weeks away. I was dreading it.
Day of, I drove to the court early. I was so nervous. Kept thinking about seeing my wife there. Like what would she do? Would she yell at me? Would she cry? Would she just ignore me?
I met Simran outside the court. She’s like, “You ready?” I’m like, “No.” She’s like, “Too bad, let’s go.” Not mean, just like… this is happening.
We went into this small courtroom. The judge is this older woman who looks tired. Like she’s seen a million divorces and doesn’t give a shit. My wife was already there with her lawyer. I deliberately didn’t look at her.
The judge’s like, “So you want a divorce?” I said yes. She’s like, “And you want a divorce?” My wife said yes. The judge asked a few questions. Did we have kids? Yes. Had we been separated? Yes, for three months. The judge was like, “Okay, next hearing in three weeks.”
Just like that. We were done. The judge didn’t ask us why or anything. Just confirmed we both wanted it, noted down basic info, and moved on.
I felt like I was gonna throw up the whole drive home.
Back And Forth With Lawyers Was Weird But Helpful
For the next couple months, Simran and my wife’s lawyer were constantly emailing each other and calling each other. I’d get updates from Simran. “Your wife’s asking for ₹40,000 maintenance.” I’d be like, “That’s too much, I can do ₹15,000.” Simran would email back a counter-offer.
This went on for like two months. It was exhausting but also, it was less emotional than if my wife and I had fought about it directly. Through the lawyers it was just like, numbers and proposals. Not personal.
We also had to figure out the house. My wife was claiming she paid for half of it. I was saying I paid for most of it from my bonus. Simran said we needed to document everything. So I dug through old emails, bank statements, loan papers. Eventually I showed Simran everything and she agreed that I’d paid the down payment from my bonus and most of the early EMIs from my personal account. My wife contributed through joint household money but less than me.
We ended up agreeing that we’d split the house value 55-45 in my favor. Not 50-50 but close. I’d have to pay her like ₹5 lakhs to buy out her share.
Second Hearing Had More Questions
Second hearing, the judge asked more detailed questions. About finances. About the kids. About who would have primary custody.
My wife wanted the kids mostly with her. I wanted them mostly with me. We went back and forth through the lawyers on this. Eventually we agreed that they’d be with me during the school week and most weekends. They’d go to their mom on Saturday afternoon, come back Sunday evening. In summer they’d spend two weeks with her.
I wasn’t happy about the maintenance amount we settled on. Ended up being ₹22,000 per month. That’s a chunk of my salary. But Simran said it was fair based on the income gap and the fact that I had primary custody.
Final Hearing And It Was Actually Done
We had one more hearing. This was supposed to be the final one where we’d confirm everything. Judge reads through the whole agreement. She’s asking, “Do you agree to this?” Both me and my wife said yes.
Then the judge is like, “Okay, you’re divorced. Here’s your decree.” Literally just like that. Signed a paper. We’re done. Officially divorced.
I walked out of that courtroom and I didn’t know what to feel. Like, my marriage was over. Officially. Legally. That was weird to process.
How Much Money This All Cost
Simran charged me ₹30,000 upfront. Then ₹2,000 for the first hearing, ₹2,000 for the second, ₹2,000 for the final. That’s ₹6,000. Then court fees and filing stuff came to like ₹8,000. Miscellaneous stuff like document preparation, maybe another ₹5,000.
Total, I spent about ₹49,000 for the lawyer and court.
My wife probably spent similar amount with her lawyer.
So like, between us we spent almost ₹1,00,000 on lawyers and court fees. That’s not cheap. But we settled things relatively quickly and avoided going to full trial. If we’d fought it out in court it could have been ₹2-3,00,000 for each of us. I have friends who went through contested divorces and spent way more.
For that money I got someone who knew the law, knew how courts work, and protected me from making mistakes. I think it was worth it.
Check https://advocatesimlinkaur.in/ if you want to understand what stuff costs without getting ripped off.
What Actually Happened After The Decree
The Custody Schedule Took Getting Used To
So now Aditya and Priya are with me every weeknight and most weekends. I drop them at school, pick them up, help with homework. Weekends we usually hang out here. Sometimes we go to the park or get food or just chill.
Saturday after school, my wife picks them up. She keeps them overnight. Sunday evening I pick them up. It took me and my wife like two months to get into a rhythm with this. There were times she was late picking them up or I forgot to pack their bags. But eventually we got it down.
During summer I get them for most of the two months. She gets them for two weeks in the middle. It’s weird coordinating but it works.
The kids adjusted better than I expected. Aditya still cries sometimes asking why mom and I can’t just get back together. I tell him it’s not that simple. He’s 8 so I can’t really explain it to him. Priya seems to understand better. She’s quieter about it but I can tell she’s processing it.
I Had To Actually Pay The Maintenance
₹22,000 per month comes out of my account automatically. First few months I was angry about it every time. Like, I’m paying her to not be married to me? That sucked.
But I realized that’s kind of the point. She stayed home for years with the kids. She sacrificed her career growth for that. Even though we’re not married anymore, that sacrifice still matters in the court’s eyes. So yeah, I pay her. Not thrilled about it but that’s how it is.
The House Situation Was A Whole Process
I had to buy out her share of the house. Got a loan for ₹5 lakhs and paid her that amount. Then I added just my name to the property papers. That took like two months of going back and forth with the property office.
Now it’s just my house. My name on the deed. My responsibility. That feels different. Like, I built this, I’m keeping it, it’s mine. That was the thing I was most afraid of losing in the divorce and I managed to keep it.
Real Conversations I Have With People Now
Everyone Asks How Much The Lawyer Cost
People ask, “Was it worth it to hire a lawyer?” I always say yes. I spent ₹49,000 and kept most of my stuff and primary custody of my kids. Without a lawyer I probably would have lost thousands of rupees or ended up in court for years fighting. My friend Rohit didn’t hire a lawyer and he got absolutely destroyed in his settlement. Gave away way too much because he didn’t know the law. Now he’s fighting his ex-wife to modify the agreement. Should have just hired someone from the start.
People Also Ask About Their Own Situations
My coworker Harsh asked me, “So if I get divorced, would I have to pay maintenance like you?” I’m like, “Probably, if your wife makes less money than you or if she has custody of the kids.” He seemed stressed about that. I told him to talk to a lawyer because every situation is different.
My cousin asked, “Can you and your ex get back together now that the divorce is final?” I was like, “Like, legally? Probably? But I don’t want to. She doesn’t want to. So no, we’re not getting back together.”
The Part Nobody Talks About Is How Weird It Is
Like nobody warns you that divorce is not just sad about the relationship ending. It’s also weird logistically. Like, I had to change the address on the property deed. I had to update my will because my ex is no longer my beneficiary. I had to figure out new taxes because I’m filing as single now instead of married. I had to set up a separate bank account for the maintenance payment so it goes automatically.
Nobody talks about that stuff.
The Hardest Part Was Telling My Kids
I remember sitting them down. Aditya asked me, “Are you getting divorced?” I was like, “Yeah buddy, me and your mom are getting divorced.” He started crying. He asked, “Is it because of me?” I nearly fell apart. “No, no, it’s not because of you. You didn’t do anything. Sometimes grown-ups just can’t stay married. That’s not your fault.”
Priya was just quiet. She went to her room. That was almost worse than if she’d yelled or cried. I went in later and she’s just sitting on her bed. I asked what she was thinking and she’s like, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
That broke me more than anything else in this entire process.
Actual Advice I’d Give Now
If you’re going through divorce in Delhi, hire a lawyer. Just do it. I know it costs money but not hiring one costs more money and more time and more stress.
Find someone who listens, not someone who promises you everything. Find someone who’s honest about what’s possible and what’s not.
Don’t try to do this with your ex directly if there’s any conflict. It just doesn’t work. You need someone neutral making agreements.
Prepare documents early. Like organize everything from day one. It makes things faster.
Don’t be aggressive just to be aggressive. Settle what you can. Fight only when you actually need to.
Most importantly, remember that if you have kids, they need both parents to be reasonable. The legal stuff is important but your kids are more important.
And honestly, if you need help finding top divorce lawyers in Delhi, just go talk to https://advocatesimlinkaur.in/. Tell them your situation. They’ll help you figure out what to do. That’s what I needed—someone who actually understood the system and could guide me through it. I found that. You can too.
Life goes on after divorce. It’s different. It’s weird. But it goes on. And eventually you get used to the new normal.
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