Rift over trust for kids holds up Karisma divorce

MUMBAI: Actress Karisma Kapoor and her Delhi-based businessman husband, Sunjay Kapur, are not to end the year with closure of their decade-old marriage after all.
The couple, who filed a mutual consent divorce petition in the city family court, disagreed on some issues at their final hearing a few days ago. The two were packed off by the judge to work out a settlement by February.
The celebrity couple were present in court along with their lawyers before principal judge Laxmi Rao on what was meant to be their date to get the decree — just before Christmas and in time to bring in the New Year with, perhaps, new partners — but both failed to agree to the terms of a trust being set up for the welfare of their two minor children, a nine-year-old daughter and a much younger son.
Karisma is represented by divorce lawyer Kranti Sathe, while Sunjay had two top lawyers coming in from Delhi.
Karisma wanted to have more say and control over the trust than she was getting and Sunjay was unwilling to let go of his control, it was learnt.

Karisma, who resides in Oberoi Crest in Khar, and Sunjay, a resident of Chankyapuri in Delhi, had converted the custody plea into a mutual consent divorce petition in June. All formalities over, they were in court to get the divorce, but left discontented instead.
When both sides got loud in court, the judge put her foot down. She directed them to come back with a final settlement, after working it out amicably outside the court, or withdraw their joint petition for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act.
Once a mutual consent plea is filed, there is a six month cooling off period to give time to both sides for a rethink, at the end of which if they still want to split, divorce is granted. They also have up to another year to work on their decision to take divorce by consent.
Sunjay was the first to move the Bandra family court on May 31. He filed a custody petition for the children, saying Karisma was seeing someone else.
Karisma’s alleged love interest, pharma company honcho Sandeep Toshniwal, has his divorce plea pending in the same court before another judge. He had filed for divorce in 2011 and for permanent custody of his two minor daughters, now aged nine and six. His wife, a doctor, demanded Rs 5 crore as permanent alimony, Rs 75 lakh in damages, and Rs 3 lakh each as monthly maintenance for the daughters.
The warring couple have a date set in court on December 29 for hearing a plea made by Toshniwal’s wife against him.
Karisma’s lawyer Sathe declined to comment beyond saying that the matter was “pending compliance” and “is being worked out amicably”.