NEW DELHI: Marriages may be made in heaven, but they are dissolved in courts. And in India, such dissolutions are usually messy and involve tedious and often expensive legal battles.To shorten this cumbersome legal journey and ensure a happy ending for warring couples – especially women , the government wants to bring into law the concept of a "prenuptial agreement ".A common feature in marriages in the West, especially among celebrities, prenuptial agreements are pacts couples enter into before they marry and detail, often to dizzying levels of precision, who does what and, more importantly, who gets what, should the union fail. Under these pacts, a couple can even mutually agree to define responsibilities of each other after the wedding, including who among them will do the dishes, how many and which all foreign countries the husband will take his wife out to and who will drop the kids to school.Prenuptials agreements have been finding their way into marital unions in India too, but there’s a problem: Indian law does not recognise these pacts, rendering them useless. Now Maneka Gandhi ’s Ministry of Women and Child Development has initiated moves to change this.It is outlining modalities for introducing prenuptial agreements into the existing legal system as an option for couples.Sources in the ministry told ET that officials are all set to hold a consultation process on how to enmesh prenuptial agreements into existing laws so that they can be implemented in case a marriage sours. The consultation, slated to happen within 10 days, will be attended by top lawyers, representatives from national law schools in Delhi and Bengaluru, sociologists, psychologists and experts in the field.It follows a meeting that Gandhi held with DV Sadananda Gowda last week, during which the law minister is said to have concurred with the need to hold a wide consultation with all stakeholders to reach a conclusion.Legal experts said the introduction of such a facility will have to entail wide consultations. "It will need to be seen whether to amend existing laws or introduce a new provision," said senior lawyer Mohan Jain, a former Additional Solicitor General of India.Women EmpowermentOfficials familiar with the discussions said that the women & Judicial delays on account of backlog of cases, in addition to delaying tactics husbands resort to, further worsen the situation for women," said one senior official requesting anonymity."If a couple chooses to part ways and apply for legal separation, their rights and responsibilities are pre-defined. This would save time, expenditure and energy of warring couples."Another big advantage of entering into such an agreement is that neither the husband nor the wife can contest a demand for dissolution of marriage. Under the prevailing laws, dissolution of marriages can take place either by mutual consent, wherein both parties agree to part ways, or through contesting a divorce, which is both time consuming and cumbersome.With a prenuptial agreement, a couple can only apply for dissolution of marriage by mutual consent. "For, everything, the terms and conditions of separation will be prescribed in the agreement," the official cited earlier said.Officials said the plan in the works was to provide a prenuptial agreement as an option, recognised under Indian laws, to couples "without any template or imposition". If mutually agreeable, a couple can sign the agreement, which would have provisions to penalise offending spouses if they refuse to honour the pacts. The quantum of such punishments will be discussed and decided during the consultation process.Officials said the Indian Contract Act of 1872 that is in force now often acts as an impediment in the implementation of prenuptial agreements, with its Sections 23 & 26 treating these pacts as "void". None of the marriage Acts in India also provide for prenuptial agreements. Legal ways to amend the laws are being contemplated.WCD ministry officials said introducing prenuptial agreements would help save marriages. "Once, the liabilities, assets and responsibilities are decided in advance, a husband will be more careful and cautious in seeking dissolution. He would have a clear idea of the amount of alimony he will have to pay to his wife," one official said, underling the proposed plan’s pro-women stance.