Maintenance is an amount payable by the husband to his wife who is unable and incapable to maintain herself upon separation or divorce.
The amount of maintenance is either fixed by the Court or it is agreed mutually between the parties before finalizing the divorce.
The factors based on which a lawyer charges their client in a case for maintenance vary from one legal practitioner to other but there can be broadly summarized into the following :-
- Violation of the principle that a litigant must approach the Court with clean hands
It implies that one who seeks relief from Court must not be at fault. In this case when a wife who seeks maintenance from the Court by filing an application to that effect must not be in adulterous extra marital relationship.
If this is the case, then it is very hard for the lawyer of the petitioner to succeed in their case and hence the chances of success are low and fee would be charged accordingly by him.
- Expertise of the lawyer
As specialized law firm or a lawyer that specifically deal in such cases, the fee would be determined accordingly which would be cumulative of taking their domain knowledge, the professionalism and the convenience offered by them to their client.
The charges for a case and the domain knowledge of the advocate on that matter are usually directly proportional.
- The quantum of the maintenance that is secured by the Court order
The fee of lawyer in such cases depends upon the quantum of the maintenance that the Court awards in favor of the client. Commonly, there is a percentage fixed for the lawyers as their fee in the quantum of maintenance awarded by Court.
- Complexities involved in a case
Other difficulties such as the approach of the Court, availability of favorable judgments and the likelihood of the success also effect the fee that is charged by a lawyer in cases for maintenance.
