By S&S Co. Advocates & Solicitors · Published 30 September 2026 · Informational content, not legal advice: see our disclaimer
Winning the Order Is Only Half the Battle
A spouse who obtains a maintenance or alimony order from an Indian court against an NRI spouse who has since moved, or always lived, abroad faces a genuinely harder problem than a domestic enforcement case: Indian courts generally have no direct power to compel payment from someone who has no assets and no presence within India, and India does not have the kind of comprehensive, treaty-based reciprocal maintenance enforcement network that connects many other countries to each other. Understanding the actual, available enforcement mechanisms, and their real limits, is essential before assuming an Indian order alone will secure payment.
Enforcement Against Assets or Income Still in India
The most straightforward enforcement route is against any assets, income, or property the NRI spouse still holds within India: a bank account, property, or shares can generally be attached and, where necessary, sold in execution proceedings under the ordinary civil execution framework, in much the same way a domestic money decree would be executed. An NRI respondent who assumes that simply living abroad puts their Indian assets beyond the reach of an Indian maintenance order is mistaken: these remain squarely within an Indian court's enforcement jurisdiction, and a maintenance claimant should identify and pursue any such assets as the first and most reliable enforcement avenue.
Section 128 Cr.P.C. and Reciprocating Countries
For enforcement against income or assets located abroad, India's law provides a mechanism, though one with real geographic limits: Section 128 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (in the maintenance context, generally invoked alongside Section 125 Cr.P.C. maintenance proceedings) allows an Indian maintenance order to be forwarded for enforcement to a country that India has specifically notified as a 'reciprocating' country under applicable arrangements, but this mechanism only works where the specific foreign country has actually been notified for this purpose and has its own corresponding domestic legal machinery to receive and enforce the Indian order. Many of the countries with large NRI populations are not covered by such reciprocal arrangements with India, which means, for maintenance claimants whose NRI spouse resides in a country without such an arrangement, this route is often simply unavailable, and enforcement has to proceed by other means.
Pursuing Enforcement Directly in the Foreign Country
Where no reciprocal arrangement covers the relevant country, a maintenance claimant's most realistic option is often to pursue recognition and enforcement of the Indian order directly through that foreign country's own courts, under whatever mechanism that country's law provides for recognising and enforcing a foreign maintenance or family-court order: this varies enormously by country, and some jurisdictions are considerably more receptive to enforcing an Indian maintenance order than others, particularly where the foreign country itself has a domestic maintenance-enforcement framework the claimant's Indian order can be fitted into. This route generally requires engaging a lawyer qualified in the foreign jurisdiction, working in tandem with Indian counsel, and can be a slower and more expensive process than enforcement within India, but is often the only realistic option where the NRI respondent has no meaningful assets left in India.
Interim Practical Tools
Pending or alongside formal cross-border enforcement, Indian courts hearing maintenance and related matrimonial disputes have shown willingness to use available procedural tools creatively where an NRI respondent appears to be evading proceedings or enforcement altogether, including, in appropriate and serious cases, considering a Look Out Circular to prevent departure from India where a respondent is present in India but attempting to leave to evade an order, though such measures are exceptional and fact-specific rather than a routine enforcement tool available in every case.
Practical Guidance for Claimants and Respondents
A maintenance claimant dealing with an NRI spouse should identify, as early as possible, exactly what assets the respondent holds in India versus abroad, since this materially shapes the realistic enforcement strategy: Indian-asset enforcement is comparatively fast and reliable, while cross-border enforcement, whether through Section 128 reciprocal arrangements or direct foreign proceedings, is slower and less certain, and should be planned for with realistic expectations from the outset rather than assumed to follow automatically from winning the Indian order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an Indian maintenance order automatically get enforced against an NRI spouse's assets abroad?
No: Indian courts generally have no direct power to compel payment from assets or income located entirely outside India, and enforcement abroad depends on specific, limited mechanisms rather than happening automatically.
Can an Indian maintenance order be enforced against an NRI's assets still in India?
Yes: this is the most straightforward route: bank accounts, property or shares in India can generally be attached and, if necessary, sold in execution proceedings under the ordinary civil execution framework, just as with a domestic money decree.
What is Section 128 Cr.P.C. and does it help enforce maintenance abroad?
It allows an Indian maintenance order to be forwarded for enforcement to a country India has specifically notified as 'reciprocating', but this only works where the specific foreign country has such an arrangement and its own domestic machinery to receive the order: many countries are not covered.
What can a claimant do if the NRI spouse's country has no reciprocal enforcement arrangement with India?
Pursue recognition and enforcement of the Indian order directly through that foreign country's own courts, generally by engaging a lawyer qualified in that jurisdiction working alongside Indian counsel: a slower and more variable process depending on the country involved.
Should a maintenance claimant check the NRI respondent's assets in India and abroad separately?
Yes, identifying exactly what assets exist in India versus abroad early shapes the realistic enforcement strategy, since Indian-asset enforcement is comparatively fast and reliable while cross-border enforcement is slower and less certain.
References & Further Reading
This guide provides a general overview of cross-border maintenance enforcement challenges. The availability and mechanics of enforcement vary significantly by country, and claimants should seek advice specific to the NRI respondent's country of residence.
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Sections 125 and 128: maintenance orders and reciprocating-country enforcement mechanisms.
- Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, Order XXI: execution of decrees, applicable to enforcement against assets located in India.