Family Maintenance Legal Notice

When maintenance a family member is entitled to is not being paid, a calm, formal notice is often the first step. Generate a clear notice for ₹299, preview it free, and send it properly.

Your ₹299 kit includes:

  • ✓ Formal maintenance notice drafted from your facts
  • ✓ Clear request for the amount or arrangement
  • ✓ How to serve: Registered Post, Speed Post, email, WhatsApp
  • ✓ Evidence-pack checklist for the relationship and need
  • ✓ Proof-of-service checklist
  • ✓ If-ignored next-steps playbook

Instant download · One-time fee · No subscription. Stamp paper is not required for a legal notice.

Family matters are sensitive, and they often need a lawyer. This notice is a formal first step to open the conversation in writing — it is not a substitute for legal advice, and it is not a court filing. Please consider speaking with a family-law advocate about your situation, especially where children, safety, or a court petition may be involved.

A formal demand for the maintenance you're owed, on the record in your own name — the recognised first step before a maintenance petition. Sent by Registered Post A.D. with proof of delivery.

Agreements.co.in is a document service, not a law firm — we don't give legal advice or guarantee outcomes. You send the notice in your own name and confirm every detail before you pay.

What this costs, and what you get for it

How sending a legal notice actually works

The law this document is drafted against — sources last read 31 August 2026

We last opened the official published source for each provision below on 31 August 2026 and confirmed the text we cite is still there. That is a check of the source, not advice about your situation.

  • A person with sufficient means who neglects or refuses to maintain a wife, a child, or a father or mother unable to maintain themselves can be ordered by a Magistrate to pay a monthly allowance — whatever the family's religionBharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Chapter X, Section 144(1) (a Magistrate of the first class may order a monthly allowance for the maintenance of a wife, a legitimate or illegitimate child, or a father or mother, unable to maintain themselves, against a person having sufficient means who neglects or refuses to maintain them), with the second proviso (interim maintenance and the expenses of the proceeding during its pendency) and the Explanation (“wife” includes a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband and has not remarried)Read the source — opened 31 August 2026
  • Where the Sender is a parent or a senior citizen: a faster tribunal route exists against children or heirs — with a monthly ceiling the general law does not haveMaintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 — Section 4 (a senior citizen including a parent, unable to maintain himself from his own earning or out of property owned by him, may apply against children not being minors, or, if childless, against a relative who is in possession of or would inherit his property), read with Section 5(4) (an application for the monthly allowance shall be disposed of within ninety days from service of notice, extendable once by a maximum of thirty days for reasons recorded in writing) and Section 9(2) (the maximum allowance the Tribunal may order is as prescribed by the State Government and shall not exceed ten thousand rupees per month)Read the source — opened 31 August 2026
  • Where the Sender is a woman in a domestic relationship with the recipient: maintenance can also be sought as monetary relief, in addition to any maintenance order under the general lawProtection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 — Section 20(1)(d) (on an application under Section 12(1), the Magistrate may direct the respondent to pay monetary relief including “the maintenance for the aggrieved person as well as her children, if any, including an order under or in addition to an order of maintenance under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or any other law for the time being in force”), read with Section 20(2) (the relief shall be adequate, fair and reasonable and consistent with the standard of living to which the aggrieved person is accustomed) and Section 20(3) (the Magistrate may order a lump sum or monthly payments)Read the source — opened 31 August 2026
You (the Sender)
The person seeking maintenance, or acting for a dependent.
The Other Person
The family member the maintenance is sought from, and where the notice will be delivered.

Where the notice will be posted — a deliverable postal address.

The relationship and the maintenance
Describe the relationship, the need, and what you are asking for.

Optional.

Optional. Whole rupees.

How long they get to respond. 15 days is customary.

Optional. Mention calls, messages, or family discussions already had.

Choose delivery
Pick the notice kit only, or have the notice sent for you.

Evidence & Supporting Documents

Add anything that supports your claim — an invoice, a WhatsApp chat, a payment screenshot, even a handwritten notebook. This is optional, but a notice backed by proof carries far more weight.

Your evidence: Nothing added yet

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You have not added any evidence yet. You can still send the notice — but the items below are what a lawyer asks for first, and gathering them now is far easier than later.

What to gather

  • Proof of the relationship this claim depends on — marriage certificate, birth certificate, or similarMost importantMaintenance is a right that comes from the relationship itself. A Magistrate's first question is who you are to each other, and this is what answers it.No certificate? A marriage photo album with a priest or registrar's record, a joint bank account, ration card, or school records naming both of you as parent and child all help show the relationship — add them under Personal Notes or Financial Records.
  • What the other person earns — payslips, ITR, business records, or their known assetsMost importantThe amount a court orders is fixed against what they can actually pay, not just what you need. Without this, the figure you are asking for is a guess.Exact figures are rare to have. Their job title and employer, a property they own, or the lifestyle the household visibly maintained is a starting point — a court can also direct them to disclose their own income.
  • What you and any dependents actually need to live — rent, school fees, medical costs, monthly expensesThe order is built from the gap between what you need and what you have. A vague 'I need support' is far weaker than an itemised monthly figure.A simple handwritten list of monthly costs, even without receipts for all of them, is enough to start from.

This is a checklist of what a lawyer usually asks for first — not a judgement about your case, and never a reason you cannot send the notice. We go by how you describe each item; nobody opens your files to check them, so tick things off honestly — the list is only useful if it is true. You can add more evidence at any time, and only you and our team can see what you upload.

No evidence added yet

Evidence & Supporting Documents — FAQ
Most people hesitate simply because they don't know what documents are needed. Here are the answers.