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CHAPTER III MAINTENANCE

Section 19: Maintenance of widowed daughter-in-law

The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956

(1) A Hindu wife, whether married before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be entitled to be maintained after the death of her husband by her father-in-law:

Provided and to the extent that she is unable to maintain herself out of her own earnings or other property or, where she has no property of her own, is unable to obtain maintenance―

(a) from the estate of her husband or her father or mother, or

(b) from her son or daughter, if any, or his or her estate.

(2) Any obligation under sub-section (1) shall not be enforceable if the father-in-law has not the means to do so from any coparcenary property in his possession out of which the daughter-in- law has not obtained any share, and any such obligation shall cease on the re-marriage of the daughter-in-law.

Questions on this section

3 questions in 8 of our papers cite Section 19. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. W, a Hindu widow with no earnings or property of her own, sues her father-in-law F for maintenance under Section 19 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. Her husband left no estate, but her major son S is well employed and able to maintain her. Her claim against F:

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