The High Court has ruled that an unproven or ineffective divorce cannot be used as a reason to avoid paying maintenance or enforcing a dower decree for a wife and minor child. The judgment, delivered by Justice Abdur Rahman’s single bench, was made public on July 16, 2026. The court clarified that a child’s right to maintenance is an independent legal entitlement, not dependent on disputes between parents over divorce.

According to case records, a couple married in 2011, and the wife later filed a case seeking dower and maintenance for herself and their minor daughter. The husband claimed he had already divorced his wife but failed to prove it legally in Family Court, which then issued a decree in favor of the wife and child. When the husband filed a new declaratory suit claiming the divorce was effective and sought to halt execution of the decree, lower courts rejected his plea, leading to the High Court appeal.

The court emphasized that unless a competent court stays a decree, it remains enforceable. It reaffirmed that Family Courts hold exclusive jurisdiction over disputes involving marriage, divorce, dower, and maintenance.