jewellery

When she left her husbandТs home, all she took along was her streedhanЧthe gemstone rings and other gifts given to her by her family at the time of her marriage. She didnТt take the gifts her in-laws had given her. She has no regrets, though. УI wanted a clean break and didnТt make any financial demands because I was confident of fending for myself,Ф she says.
For Rashmi Gauttam, 56, it was more difficult. Not only did she have to deal with the pain of seeing her marriage crumble after 27 years, she was in for a shock when she found that all the savings and investments were in her husbandТs name, although she had contributed to the family income. Her ex-husband did give her an apartment in the Capital, but that was only because he wanted a quick separation so he could remarry.
Gauttam didnТt contest. She succumbed to social pressure, not wanting to face her husbandТs colleagues, who lived in the same complex.
Besides, she wanted to liquidate the asset quickly so that she, too, could break free and start life all over again. She sold the apartment for Rs24 lakh and bought a house in Gurgaon. She sold that, too, soon after and moved to Dehradun.
УIf I had held on to the Gurgaon flat, I would have got a good price for it now, as prices in the locality have nearly tripled in the last four years,Ф she says.
In GauttamТs case, most of the gold jewellery her father had given her at the time of marriage were in a bank locker in her husbandТs name. Here, she found resistanceЧher husband said he wanted their daughters to get what was rightfully theirs. He even claimed he had lost the keys to the locker.
Gauttam then went to the bankТs manager and found that duplicate keys could be made. Her insistence and a little УsocialФ pressure made him relent. She got her jewellery, including what his parents had given her.
But like Arora, Gauttam, too, did not insist on maintenance, and began focusing instead on her career as an education consultant.
The question is: Could Gauttam have got a better financial deal for herself?
LetТs take a look at some things you need to know regarding streedhan, dowry, alimony and joint ownership.