Refund and Payment Policy

1. The one thing that makes this whole page simple

There are three kinds of money in a marriage matter, and almost every fee dispute in this industry comes from mixing them up. We keep them apart from the first message.

Government fees are paid to the government. Delhi's published figures are small: Rs 15 to be deposited with the cashier of the District for solemnisation under the Special Marriage Act, Rs 100 to be deposited with the Marriage Clerk for registration under the Hindu Marriage Act, and Rs 200 under clause 4 of the Delhi (Compulsory Registration of Marriage) Order, 2014. We never call our own charges a government fee, and no service should.

Third-party costs are what an outside service charges: a notary, stamp paper, a translator, an apostille agent, a courier, photographs, and where you need them, the Arya Samaj institution's own charges. These are at actuals.

Our professional fee is what we charge for our own time - route advice, document review, drafting, form preparation, coordination with the office, and follow-up until the certificate is issued.

Only the third of these is ours to refund. That is the whole logic of this page.

2. How we quote

We look at your facts first - the route, whether either of you was married before, whether documents are from outside Delhi, whether an advocate's drafting or appearance is needed, whether translation or apostille is involved - and then give one written figure for the agreed scope. That figure goes to you on WhatsApp or email before any work begins, so you have it in writing.

We do not quote a low number and revise it. If the scope genuinely changes - a new document surfaces, an objection is filed under section 7, an extra appearance becomes necessary, a name correction is needed - we tell you what the extra work costs and get your agreement before doing it. Work you did not agree to is never billed to you.

Ask for a receipt for everything you pay, including government fees at the counter. Keep them. A service that will not put its own fee in writing separately from the government fee is telling you something about how it operates.

3. What is refundable, stage by stage

The professional fee is earned as work is done. This table is the whole rule, and we apply it as written rather than case by case.

Two clarifications people ask for. First, 'preparation' means work actually produced for your file - a drafted affidavit, a completed form, a checked document set - not time spent thinking about it. Second, if you cancel mid-stage we round in your favour rather than ours.

4. Situations where we refund even though we did not have to

We made a mistake. If a file is returned or rejected because of an error on our side - a wrong form, a missed document, a mis-typed detail we prepared - we correct and re-file at no further professional fee. If a government fee has to be paid a second time because of our error, we bear it.

We could not do what we said we would. If we accept a matter and then find we cannot carry it through, we return the unearned fee in full and hand you your file, prepared as far as it went, so another service or advocate can pick it up without starting again.

You were quoted wrongly by us. If our quote was based on a misunderstanding of your facts that was ours to catch, we honour the lower figure or return the difference.

5. Situations where there is no refund

False information or documents. If you gave us information you knew to be untrue, or a document that turns out to be forged or altered, work stops immediately and fees stand. Section 44 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 makes a false declaration under that Act an offence, and the forgery provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 apply to a fabricated document. We will not carry that risk and we will not fund it.

The office refused on the merits of your facts. If the conditions in section 4 of the Special Marriage Act are not met - age, capacity, a prohibited relationship, a living spouse - no preparation could have changed that. Where we spot this at the outset we tell you and decline the fee. Where it emerges only after disclosure you did not make, the work already done is not refunded.

You did not attend. Personal appearance is required by law for solemnisation and for declarations before the officer. If you do not attend and the appointment lapses, the work already done stands.

Delay caused by the office. Frustrating as it is, an office delay is not a service failure. We keep following up without charging again, but a delay is not a refund event.

Government fee already deposited. We never held that money. Only the office can act on it, and in practice it does not refund a deposited fee.

6. How to ask for a refund, and how fast it moves

Write to care@tatkalcourtmarriage.com or message +91 93184 23172 with your name, the phone number the matter is under, the date of payment and the amount. A one-line reason helps us do better but is not a condition.

We acknowledge within 48 hours. We tell you the calculated figure and the stage it is based on within 7 working days, and on your confirmation the refund is issued to the same source you paid from - the same UPI ID, the same card, the same account. We do not refund to a different account than the one that paid, because that is how refund fraud works.

Bank and card refunds then take their own cycle, typically 5 to 10 working days for a card and faster for UPI. If it has not arrived after that, tell us and we will send you the transaction reference to take to your bank.

Please raise a refund with us before raising a chargeback with your bank. A chargeback freezes the matter and helps nobody; almost every refund question here is settled in one phone call.

7. If you are unhappy rather than cancelling

Sometimes the issue is not money. If the communication has been poor, if you were given a date that slipped without an explanation, or if you feel you were not told something you should have been, please say so directly - to the person handling your matter first, and then to care@tatkalcourtmarriage.com.

Our full escalation process, timelines and the Grievance Officer's details are on the Grievance Redressal page. You get a written response within 30 days and usually within three working days.

Nothing on this page takes away a statutory right. Where the law gives you a consumer remedy, section 34(2)(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 lets you file where you live or work, and no clause of ours overrides that.