My stepmother is receiving the family pension and has all retiral benefits such as provident fund, gratuity etc. She is living a good life but claiming more money from me. I am a software engineer and currently in the USA. We are a very reputed family in our society. My mother died in 1984. thereafter my father contracted a second marriage. My stepmother is very greedy and plans to claim maintenance from me. I came to know this fact through my friends and family members. I want to know whether stepmother can claim maintenance when she is living a good life?
Asked from: Punjab
Your stepmother has sufficient means to maintain herself. She has received all retiral dues of your deceased father and has been receiving family pension. Therefore your stepmother is not facing any financial hardship. She is able to maintain herself therefore, she has no right to claim maintenance under section 125 of the code of criminal procedure.
Section 125 of the CrPC provides a right to maintenance to wife, children and parents. However, stepmother is entitled to claim maintenance from her stepson if she is childless and have no sufficient means to maintain herself. In your case your mother has sufficient means and she is not living in vagrancy. Consequently, cannot demand maintenance from you.
You did not mention that your stepmother has any real child or not. If she has a real child then the stepson is not bound to pay alimony. She can exercise her right to maintenance from her own biological son. You should not worry about the maintenance of your stepmother because in prevailing conditions she has no right to seek financial assistance from you. She is a financially strong lady and also receiving the family pension.
Whether stepmother is entitled for pension if she is not living with my father
Question: My father got a second marriage after the demise of my mother. My father was a lecturer in a college which comes under Maharashtra jurisdiction. Problem is that my stepmother has not lived with my father for 1 year but my father has been giving him some money because she is asking for it. My question is Whether stepmother is entitled for pension if she is not living with my father?
Asked from: Karnataka
If your father has mentioned her name as a wife in his pension papers then your stepmother is entitled for the family pension after your father’s death.
You cannot stop her from getting a pension because your stepmother is the legally wedded wife of your father. This is the rule of the family pension scheme. You cannot keep her away from the availing the benefits of family pension. But in certain conditions the widow (mother or stepmother) cannot receive entire pension.
It does not matter that she has not been living with her husband. She is a legally wedded wife and still holding that capacity, therefore, in that capacity she has the authority to receive family pension. That capacity does not cease to exist merely because she (wife) was not living with her husband.
