The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956
Act No. 78 of 1956 · 21st December, 1956 · Full text with footnotes.
An Act to amend and codify the law relating to adoptions and maintenance among Hindus.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
Chapter I — Preliminary
Chapter II — Adoption
- 5Adoptions to be regulated by this Chapter.
- 6Requisites of a valid adoption.
- 7Capacity of a male Hindu to take in adoption.
- 8Capacity of a female Hindu to take in adoption.
- 9Persons capable of giving in adoption.
- 10Persons who may be adopted.
- 11Other conditions for a valid adoption.
- 12Effects of adoption.
- 13Right of adoptive parents to dispose of their properties.
- 14Determination of adoptive mother in certain cases.
- 15Valid adoption not to be cancelled.
- 16Presumption as to registered documents relating to adoption.
- 17Prohibition of certain payments.
Chapter III — Maintenance
- 18Maintenance of wife.
- 19Maintenance of widowed daughter-in-law.
- 20Maintenance of children and aged parents.
- 21Dependants defined.
- 22Maintenance of dependants.
- 23Amount of maintenance.
- 24Claimant to maintenance should be a Hindu.
- 25Amount of maintenance may be altered on change of circumstances.
- 26Debts to have priority.
- 27Maintenance when to be a charge.
- 28Effect of transfer of property on right to maintenance.
Chapter IV — Repeals and Savings
1 This Act has been extended to Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Reg. 6 of 1963, s. 2 and First Schedule. This Act has been amended in U.P. Act 57 of 1976. This Act shall, from a date to be notified by the administrator, come into force in Pondicherry, subject to the following modification: In section 2, after sub-section (2), insert:― “(2A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the renoncants of the Union territory of Pondicherry.”
Source: India Code (indiacode.nic.in), Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 (Act No. 78 of 1956), official text with the official footnotes. Section 29 is repealed and is listed with the official note.
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