# Daughter marriage expenses: can a father be made to pay in advance? > Not in advance. When two daughters asked a court to make their father pay Rs 20 lakh for weddings that had not been arranged, the Supreme Court held on 7 July 2025 that the claim was "premature and not maintainable at this stage": no marriage date was fixed and no engagement or preparation was underway (PLD 2026 SC 122, paras 4 and 5). - Topic: Family - Court: Supreme Court of Pakistan - Citation: PLD 2026 SC 122 - The myth: "Daughters can make their father pay their wedding money now, even before any rishta is fixed." Verdict: Wrong: no date, no engagement, no preparations: premature. - Watch: https://failegal.site/media/daughter-marriage-expenses-father-pld-2026-sc-122 (video https://failegal.site/media/daughter-marriage-expenses-father-pld-2026-sc-122/reel.mp4, 1:08) - Published by FAI Legal on 2026-11-05 It is not the end of the road for daughters. The monthly maintenance the Family Court gave them stood, and the Court kept their right to come back once a marriage is fixed and the father refuses the expenses despite his clear responsibility (paras 2, 5 and 6). ## Key points - The law does not create a statutory obligation on a father to bear advance or indefinite marriage expenses when no marriage date is fixed and no engagement or preparation is underway (PLD 2026 SC 122, para 4). - A suit for marriage expenses may lie when the expenses are immediate, certain and unjustly denied, especially when jahez or rukhsati costs are refused at an actual engagement or marriage (para 4). - The daughters' fear of future need was called genuine and understandable, but it was not yet a debt a court could enforce: "Courts are forums of law and not speculation as well as supposition" (para 4). - Only the marriage-expenses part of the decree was set aside; the monthly maintenance of Rs 10,000 for each daughter, with a 10% yearly increase, was left as the Family Court gave it (para 2). - The daughters may go back to court when a marriage is fixed and the father refuses the expenses (paras 5 and 6). ## Daughter marriage expenses in advance: the short answer A court will not order a father to pay his daughters' marriage expenses for weddings that have not been fixed. In PLD 2026 SC 122 the Supreme Court said the law "does not create a statutory obligation on a father to bear advance or indefinite marriage expenses, especially when: no marriage date is fixed; no engagement or preparation is underway" (para 4), and called the daughters' claim premature (para 5). The same order keeps the door open: a suit for marriage expenses may lie when they are immediate, certain and unjustly denied, for example when jahez or rukhsati costs are refused at an actual engagement or marriage (para 4). ## Family Court, 2018: what the daughters asked for Two unmarried daughters sued their father in the Family Court for maintenance at Rs 10,000 each a month, future maintenance at the same rate, and Rs 20,00,000 as marriage expenses, saying their marriages were going to be arranged (para 2). The Urdu words people search for this, beti ki shadi ka kharcha, mean exactly that claim. On 30 November 2018 the Family Court gave them Rs 5,000 each a month for the past and Rs 10,000 each a month from the date of the suit until their legal entitlement ends, with a 10% yearly increase, and Rs 10,00,000 as marriage expenses, to be recovered from the father at the time of their marriage. The father's appeal was dismissed on 13 September 2019. The Lahore High Court accepted his writ petition in part on 15 June 2022 and set aside the decree to the extent of the marriage expenses (para 2). ## We checked it in FAI Legal The order is on FAI Legal's Judgment Search under PLD 2026 SC 122, with every paragraph open in the judgment reader. The paragraphs quoted on this page are 2, 4, 5 and 6. ## Supreme Court, July 2025: premature, not a debt yet Shahid Bilal Hassan, J, writing for a bench of two, began with a father's duties: Islam lays great emphasis on providing for children, especially daughters, but "the law, while inspired by these moral foundations, must draw a line between what is desirable and what is judicially enforceable" (para 4). The Family Courts Act 1964 lists maintenance, dower, dowry articles and other claims in section 5 and its Schedule, "but not prospective marriage expenses, unless a concrete cause arises or customarily settled contribution is denied when due" (para 4). Here the daughters had shown no arrangement for their marriages and no evidence of finalised preparations. "Their apprehension of financial need, though genuine and understandable, does not translate into a legal debt enforceable through court at this stage. Courts are forums of law and not speculation as well as supposition" (para 4). The claim was "premature and not maintainable at this stage", the High Court had decided it rightly, and leave to appeal was refused (paras 5 and 6). ## The catch: maintenance stays The order is about marriage expenses only. The Family Court's monthly maintenance for each daughter was not part of what the High Court set aside, so it stood (para 2). Maintenance is one of the matters the Family Court decides under section 5 of the Family Courts Act 1964 and Part I of its Schedule. And the daughters were not shut out: they "shall be at liberty to seek appropriate legal recourse at a proper time, should their marriage(s) be fixed and expenses refused despite clear responsibility of the father" (para 5), and the dismissal preserved their right to approach the court afresh "when cause of action properly arises" (para 6). ## When the date is set Once a marriage is fixed, ask your father for the expenses in writing and keep his answer, whether it is a yes, a no or no reply at all. If he refuses, that refusal at a real engagement or marriage is the concrete cause the Supreme Court said a suit can be built on (paras 4 and 5). This is practical advice, not part of the order. Fathers: the monthly maintenance a court has fixed still has to be paid; this order does not touch it (para 2). ## Find rulings like this on FAI Legal Search PLD 2026 SC 122 on FAI Legal's Judgment Search to read the whole order, or ask FAI Legal your own question about maintenance, dowry or a daughter's marriage expenses, with answers from Pakistan's laws and judgments. Start free at failegal.site. ## The case at a glance - **Facts:** Two unmarried daughters sued their father for maintenance at Rs 10,000 each a month and Rs 20,00,000 as marriage expenses. The Family Court (30 November 2018) gave maintenance and Rs 10,00,000 as marriage expenses payable at the time of marriage; the appeal failed (13 September 2019); the Lahore High Court (15 June 2022) set aside the marriage expenses only (para 2). - **The question:** Can a father be compelled under the Family Courts Act 1964 to pay prospective marriage expenses for his daughters when no marriage is fixed (para 4)? - **What the Court held:** No, not at this stage. The law creates no statutory obligation to bear advance or indefinite marriage expenses when no marriage date is fixed and no engagement or preparation is underway; the claim was premature and not maintainable; leave refused (paras 4 to 6). - **Why:** A father's duties are great in Islam, but the law draws a line between what is desirable and what is judicially enforceable (para 4). Section 5 and the Schedule of the Family Courts Act cover maintenance, dower, dowry and other claims, not prospective marriage expenses unless a concrete cause arises (para 4). Courts decide existing rights and actual infringements, not hypothetical causes (para 4). - **Limits:** A short order refusing leave, by two judges. The daughters' right to sue again when a marriage is fixed and the expenses are refused is preserved (paras 5 and 6). Maintenance was not in issue before the Court and stood as decreed (para 2). ## In the Court’s words > "the claim of the petitioners as to marriage expenses, although based on understandable concerns, is found to be premature and not maintainable at this stage." (PLD 2026 SC 122, para 5) > "preserving the petitioners' right to approach the Court of competent jurisdiction afresh, when cause of action properly arises." (PLD 2026 SC 122, para 6) ## The law it relies on - **Family Courts Act, 1964 (as it applies in the Punjab), Section 5:** "the Family Courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to entertain, hear and adjudicate upon matters specified in" Part I of the Schedule. - **Family Courts Act, 1964 (as it applies in the Punjab), Schedule, Part I:** Lists dissolution of marriage (including khula), dower, maintenance, restitution of conjugal rights, custody of children and visitation, guardianship, jactitation, dowry, the personal property of a wife and a child living with her, and any other matter arising out of the nikahnama. Future marriage expenses are not on the list. ## What this does not mean - It does not mean a father never has to pay for a daughter's wedding: a suit may lie when the expenses are immediate, certain and unjustly denied, such as jahez or rukhsati costs refused at an actual engagement or marriage (para 4). - It does not end maintenance: the monthly maintenance decree for each daughter stood (para 2). - It does not shut the daughters out for good: their right to approach the court afresh when the cause of action arises was preserved (paras 5 and 6). - It does not say the daughters' worry was wrong: the Court called it genuine and understandable, only not yet a debt a court could enforce (para 4). - The reel's opening scene, a suit landing on the father's table and an aunty saying the court will make him pay, is a drawing of the common claim, not the case's own words. ## Questions people ask ### Can an unmarried daughter claim marriage expenses from her father? Yes, but not in advance. The Supreme Court said a suit for marriage expenses may lie when they are immediate, certain and unjustly denied, for example jahez or rukhsati costs refused at an actual engagement or marriage; a claim for a wedding that is not fixed is premature (PLD 2026 SC 122, paras 4 and 5). ### Is a father bound to pay his daughter's wedding expenses in Pakistan? Not as a debt in advance: the law "does not create a statutory obligation on a father to bear advance or indefinite marriage expenses" when no date is fixed and no engagement or preparation is underway (para 4). Once a marriage is fixed and he refuses despite clear responsibility, the daughter can go to court (para 5). ### Does the father still have to pay maintenance to his daughters? In this case, yes: only the marriage-expenses part of the decree was set aside, so the monthly maintenance of Rs 10,000 for each daughter with a 10% yearly increase stood (para 2). Maintenance is a Family Court matter under section 5 and Part I of the Schedule of the Family Courts Act 1964. ### When can daughters go back to court for marriage expenses? When their marriage is fixed and the father refuses the expenses despite his clear responsibility (para 5). The Supreme Court preserved their right to approach the court afresh when the cause of action properly arises (para 6). ### Which court hears a claim for maintenance or marriage expenses? The Family Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction over the matters in Part I of the Schedule to the Family Courts Act 1964, such as maintenance, dower and dowry (section 5). The Supreme Court noted that future marriage expenses are not on that list unless a concrete cause arises (para 4). ### What does premature mean here? The claim came before any right had been infringed: no wedding date, no engagement and no preparations. Courts grant relief on existing rights and actual infringements, "not of imaginary and hypothetical causes" (para 4). ## Sources - A and B v. C (two daughters v. their father; names withheld), PLD 2026 SC 122, Supreme Court of Pakistan, 7 July 2025. Advance or indefinite marriage expenses cannot be ordered when no marriage is fixed; the claim was premature; maintenance stood; the right to sue when a marriage is fixed and expenses are refused was preserved. - Family Courts Act, 1964 (as it applies in the Punjab), Section 5 and Part I of the Schedule (text checked in FAI Statute Search, 5 November 2026) ## What the reel says No rishta yet, and the daughters want wedding money from their father now? Think the court will order it? Beti ki shadi ka kharcha: pehle se mil sakta hai? Wrong. The Supreme Court said: first, a wedding must be fixed. Two daughters asked their father for maintenance and Rs 20 lakh for their weddings. The Family Court gave Rs 10 lakh, to be paid at the wedding; the High Court struck that part out. In July 2025 the Supreme Court agreed: no wedding date, no engagement, no preparations, so the claim was "premature and not maintainable at this stage" (PLD 2026 SC 122). But the monthly maintenance stayed: Rs 10,000 for each daughter. And once a wedding is fixed and the father refuses, they can go back to court. When the date is set: 1. Ask your father for the expenses in writing. 2. Keep his answer. 3. If he refuses, talk to a lawyer. --- Educational legal information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. Speak to a lawyer about your own case. Last checked: 5 November 2026. Review status: Pending advocate review. English: https://failegal.site/media/daughter-marriage-expenses-father-pld-2026-sc-122 · Urdu: https://failegal.site/media/ur/daughter-marriage-expenses-father-pld-2026-sc-122 FAI Media is part of FAI Legal (https://failegal.site), research on Pakistani statutes and judgments. Free to watch and read.