CLAT PG question bank
CLAT PG Family Law questions 26-50 of 75, with answer keys and explanations covering marriage, divorce, maintenance, succession, adoption, guardianship, Hindu law, Muslim law, and family courts.
Coverage
Revise core LLB subjects through CLAT PG MCQs, passage-led questions, answer keys, explanations, statutes, and exam-oriented legal principles.
The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 lays down cumulative requirements for a valid adoption: the person adopting must have capacity, the person giving in adoption must have capacity, the child must be capable of being adopted, and the adoption must comply with statutory conditions. Consent of the wife is a significant requirement where a married male Hindu adopts, unless an exception applies. A valid adoption creates a legal parent-child relationship with the adoptive family from the date of adoption, subject to statutory exceptions. Maintenance under HAMA includes duties towards wife, children, aged parents, and dependants. Guardianship law is governed by the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act and the Guardians and Wards Act. Even when personal law identifies a natural guardian, the welfare of the child remains the paramount consideration.
Mere social approval
Only a written family note
Only registration before police
Cumulative statutory requirements
Correct answer: D. Cumulative statutory requirements
The passage says capacity and statutory conditions must cumulatively exist.
Source note: HAMA 1956 / HMGA 1956 / Guardians and Wards Act, 1890
A Karta partitions property
A court grants divorce
A married male Hindu seeks to adopt
A stranger witnesses a will
Correct answer: C. A married male Hindu seeks to adopt
The passage identifies this specific HAMA requirement.
Source note: HAMA 1956 / HMGA 1956 / Guardians and Wards Act, 1890
Automatic cancellation after majority
Creation of parent-child relationship with the adoptive family
A temporary foster-care status only
No succession consequence at all
Correct answer: B. Creation of parent-child relationship with the adoptive family
The passage states the legal relationship created by adoption.
Source note: HAMA 1956 / HMGA 1956 / Guardians and Wards Act, 1890
Wife, children, aged parents, and dependants
Only business partners
Only strangers
Only married sons
Correct answer: A. Wife, children, aged parents, and dependants
The passage lists these maintenance categories.
Source note: HAMA 1956 / HMGA 1956 / Guardians and Wards Act, 1890
Father's preference in every case
Income alone
Caste alone
Welfare of the child
Correct answer: D. Welfare of the child
The passage ends with welfare as paramount.
Source note: HAMA 1956 / HMGA 1956 / Guardians and Wards Act, 1890
Muslim marriage is commonly described as a civil contract with religious and social significance. It requires proposal and acceptance, capacity, and absence of legal prohibition. Mehr or dower is not dowry; it is an obligation imposed on the husband as an incident of marriage and may be prompt or deferred. Muslim law recognises several modes of dissolution, including talaq, khula, mubarat, and judicial divorce under statutory law. Indian courts have increasingly insisted that talaq must satisfy legal standards rather than operate as an arbitrary private assertion. In Shamim Ara, the Supreme Court rejected a bare plea of past talaq without proper proof. In Shayara Bano, instant triple talaq was invalidated. These developments show the movement from purely formal assertions towards fairness, proof, and constitutional scrutiny.
A criminal proceeding
A testamentary disposition
A civil contract with religious and social significance
Only a sacrament without contract elements
Correct answer: C. A civil contract with religious and social significance
The first sentence states this formulation.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Shamim Ara / Shayara Bano
A court fee
A husband's legal obligation incident to marriage
Dowry paid by the wife's family
A criminal fine
Correct answer: B. A husband's legal obligation incident to marriage
The passage distinguishes mehr from dowry.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Shamim Ara / Shayara Bano
Dissolution of Muslim marriage
Coparcenary partition
Adoption under HAMA
Special Marriage notice
Correct answer: A. Dissolution of Muslim marriage
The passage lists them as modes of dissolution.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Shamim Ara / Shayara Bano
The concept of dower
Every form of Muslim divorce
The validity of marriage contracts
A bare plea of past talaq without proper proof
Correct answer: D. A bare plea of past talaq without proper proof
The passage states the holding in substance.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Shamim Ara / Shayara Bano
Abolition of all personal laws
Ignoring consent and capacity
Fairness, proof, and constitutional scrutiny
Unreviewable private assertions
Correct answer: C. Fairness, proof, and constitutional scrutiny
The closing sentence identifies this movement.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Shamim Ara / Shayara Bano
Muslim succession law does not recognise a Mitakshara-style joint family birthright. Inheritance opens only on the death of the propositus. The estate is distributed according to personal law rules involving sharers, residuaries, and in some cases distant kindred. Certain heirs receive fixed fractional shares, and the residue is distributed according to recognised rules. Testamentary power is also limited: as a general rule, a Muslim cannot bequeath more than one-third of the net estate without the consent of heirs after death. Hiba, or gift, is a lifetime transfer and ordinarily requires declaration by the donor, acceptance by the donee, and delivery of possession. Therefore, Muslim succession, will, and gift questions often turn on timing: death for inheritance and wills, lifetime transfer for hiba.
When a gift deed is drafted
On the death of the propositus
At birth like Mitakshara coparcenary
Only after court auction
Correct answer: B. On the death of the propositus
The passage states that inheritance opens only on death.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Muslim Inheritance, Wills and Hiba
Receive fixed fractional shares
Always take the entire estate
Are never relatives
Exist only under Hindu law
Correct answer: A. Receive fixed fractional shares
The passage describes fixed fractional shares.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Muslim Inheritance, Wills and Hiba
The whole estate without restriction
One-half in every case
No property at all
One-third of the net estate without heirs' consent
Correct answer: D. One-third of the net estate without heirs' consent
The passage states the one-third rule.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Muslim Inheritance, Wills and Hiba
A form of judicial divorce
A coparcenary partition
A lifetime transfer requiring declaration, acceptance, and delivery of possession
A transfer that operates only after death
Correct answer: C. A lifetime transfer requiring declaration, acceptance, and delivery of possession
The passage contrasts lifetime hiba with death-linked wills.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Muslim Inheritance, Wills and Hiba
Only registration date matters
Inheritance and wills are death-linked, while hiba operates during life
All doctrines operate only before birth
Timing has no legal effect
Correct answer: B. Inheritance and wills are death-linked, while hiba operates during life
The final sentence states this timing distinction.
Source note: Singhal Family Law II Notes / Muslim Inheritance, Wills and Hiba
Modern family law includes both status rules and protective remedies. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 provides a secular civil form of marriage for persons irrespective of religion, subject to statutory conditions such as monogamy, age, capacity, and prohibited relationship rules. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is not limited to physical violence; it includes physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, and economic abuse within a domestic relationship. It also creates civil remedies such as protection orders, residence orders, monetary relief, custody orders, and compensation. Family Courts were established to deal with matrimonial and family disputes with an emphasis on speedy settlement and conciliation where appropriate. Together these statutes show that Indian family law now protects autonomy, safety, support, and dispute resolution.
A secular civil form of marriage irrespective of religion
Only a Hindu sacramental marriage
Only adoption procedure
Only criminal punishment
Correct answer: A. A secular civil form of marriage irrespective of religion
The passage states this directly.
Source note: Special Marriage Act, 1954 / PWDVA 2005 / Family Courts Act, 1984
Only armed assault
Only public defamation
Only property trespass
Economic abuse
Correct answer: D. Economic abuse
The passage lists economic abuse among recognised forms.
Source note: Special Marriage Act, 1954 / PWDVA 2005 / Family Courts Act, 1984
A divorce decree
A succession certificate
A civil protective remedy
A transfer of title in every case
Correct answer: C. A civil protective remedy
The passage places residence orders among civil remedies.
Source note: Special Marriage Act, 1954 / PWDVA 2005 / Family Courts Act, 1984
Exclusive jurisdiction over taxation
Speedy settlement and conciliation where appropriate
Only punitive criminal trials
No role for settlement
Correct answer: B. Speedy settlement and conciliation where appropriate
The passage identifies the design of Family Courts.
Source note: Special Marriage Act, 1954 / PWDVA 2005 / Family Courts Act, 1984
Autonomy, safety, support, and dispute resolution
Only ritual performance
Only testamentary freedom
Only trade usage
Correct answer: A. Autonomy, safety, support, and dispute resolution
The final sentence lists the shared modern concerns.
Source note: Special Marriage Act, 1954 / PWDVA 2005 / Family Courts Act, 1984
Family law in India increasingly operates under constitutional values. In Sarla Mudgal and Lily Thomas, the Supreme Court held that conversion does not by itself dissolve an existing Hindu marriage or permit a second marriage without legal dissolution. In Seema v. Ashwani Kumar, the Court directed compulsory registration of marriages to strengthen proof of status and reduce disputes, while clarifying that registration supports evidence rather than replacing every substantive requirement. In Githa Hariharan, the Court read natural guardianship in a manner consistent with the welfare of the child and the constitutional position of mothers. In Shafin Jahan and Lata Singh, the Court protected adult choice in marriage as part of liberty and autonomy. The modern pattern is clear: personal law rules continue, but they are increasingly interpreted through equality, dignity, autonomy, welfare, and rule of law.
Muslim hiba only
Dowry definition only
Family Court staffing
Conversion, subsisting marriage, and bigamy concerns
Correct answer: D. Conversion, subsisting marriage, and bigamy concerns
The passage links those cases with conversion and second marriage.
Source note: Sarla Mudgal / Seema v. Ashwani Kumar / Shafin Jahan / Githa Hariharan
Creating Muslim inheritance shares
Ending maintenance rights
Compulsory registration of marriages as proof-strengthening reform
Abolishing ceremonies in every marriage
Correct answer: C. Compulsory registration of marriages as proof-strengthening reform
The passage describes the registration direction.
Source note: Sarla Mudgal / Seema v. Ashwani Kumar / Shafin Jahan / Githa Hariharan
No role for child welfare
Welfare-oriented and equality-consistent guardianship interpretation
Total exclusion of mothers
Automatic father preference in all cases
Correct answer: B. Welfare-oriented and equality-consistent guardianship interpretation
The passage connects the case with welfare and mothers' constitutional position.
Source note: Sarla Mudgal / Seema v. Ashwani Kumar / Shafin Jahan / Githa Hariharan
Adult choice in marriage as liberty and autonomy
Only parental veto power
Only arranged marriages
Only property partition
Correct answer: A. Adult choice in marriage as liberty and autonomy
The passage expressly states this principle.
Source note: Sarla Mudgal / Seema v. Ashwani Kumar / Shafin Jahan / Githa Hariharan
Personal law is never interpreted by courts
Constitutional values are irrelevant
Only custom controls every case
Personal law rules are read through constitutional values
Correct answer: D. Personal law rules are read through constitutional values
The closing sentence gives the pattern.
Source note: Sarla Mudgal / Seema v. Ashwani Kumar / Shafin Jahan / Githa Hariharan