Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court has quashed a man’s divorce decree after his death, thereby granting his wife the status of a widow and bestowing on her the right to the husband’s property, “considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case”.A Christian couple got married in 1976 and had six children. In 2020, the husband filed a petition in a family court in Anand, seeking divorce from his wife on the grounds that she had deserted him. She did not contest the divorce suit, and the family court dissolved the marriage and passed a decree in Sept 2022.The man passed away in Feb 2024, and the woman filed an appeal before the court 18 months later, in Aug 2025, challenging the divorce decree.
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She joined the children as respondent parties as the legal heirs of her ex-husband. Her counsel submitted that the challenge to the divorce decree granted in favour of a now-deceased person is maintainable.It was contended that the decree could be challenged even after the man’s death because he left behind property that is in the hands of her children. It was also argued that upon the husband’s death, her right to the status of widow and related property claims would be affected if the divorce decree remained.After hearing the case, the bench of Justice I J Vora and Justice R T Vachhani said that the parties are Christians, and the legal representatives are the appellant’s children; therefore, the right to sue survives. If the husband had died before the decree, the personal cause of action would have ended, and the suit would have abated. After a decree, spouses become ex-spouses, affecting property rights and social stigma.The bench stated, “In such circumstances, the cause of action would not die with the person and right to sue would survive after death of any of the party to the proceedings and party concerned is entitled to challenge the findings of the court concerned. Thus, therefore, without much discussion on merits of the case, considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case, we are of the opinion that the findings of the family court that the wife has intentionally deserted the deceased husband are require to be set aside and having regard to the right of the appellant-wife, with respect to the property etc., if any, we deem it fit to set aside the impugned judgement and decree. (sic)”
