You filed a khula suit in Lahore two months ago. You have the case number from the court registry. That is all you need to follow the case from your phone.
Family court cases in Pakistan can be checked online through official court portals. This guide shows you where to look, what to type in, and how to read the result. It also explains the stages a family case goes through, so the status on screen makes sense.
What a family court handles
Family courts were created by the West Pakistan Family Courts Act 1964. Every district has one or more family courts. Under section 5, these courts have exclusive jurisdiction over a fixed list of family matters:
- Dissolution of marriage, including khula
- Dower (haq mehr)
- Maintenance (nafqa) for a wife or children
- Restitution of conjugal rights
- Custody of children
- Guardianship
- Dowry articles and the personal property of a wife
Only a family court can hear these cases. A normal civil court cannot. In Punjab, the law also requires at least one family court in every district to be presided over by a woman judge.
Where family cases sit in the court system
Family courts are part of the district judiciary. They sit in the same court complexes as the civil and sessions courts. That matters because the district judiciary portals cover family cases too.
Your case carries its own number, usually written as a suit number with the year, for example Family Suit 123 of 2026. That number is your key to the whole system.
The official portals, province by province
Each province runs its own case management system. All of them are free and need no login.
- Punjab: the District Judiciary Punjab case management system at dsj.punjab.gov.pk. There is also an official District Judiciary Punjab mobile app.
- Sindh: the case flow management system at cases.districtcourtssindh.gos.pk. Pick your district, then the case type. Family suits are listed as their own case type.
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: the CFMIS portal at cfmisdcportal.peshawarhighcourt.gov.pk. Select district and tehsil, then search by case number or title.
- Islamabad: the district courts case search at mis.ihc.gov.pk.
Appeals move to the District Court, and sometimes the High Court. Use the district portal for the first appeal, and the High Court case status page for anything above.
What you need before you search
Have the case number ready. It appears on the plaint receipt, the vakalatnama, and every order you receive. Some portals also accept party name or CNIC. If you only have the CNIC, enter it without dashes.
More on reading a case record is in our guide on how to check your court case status online in Pakistan.
How to read the result
A family case record normally shows the same core fields:
- Next date of hearing, when you or your lawyer must appear
- Stage of the case, such as for evidence, for arguments, or for order
- Last order sheet, a short note of what the court did on the previous date
- Status, such as pending, decided or transferred
Two cautions. Hearing dates can shift, so confirm the date against the daily cause list a day before. And the online record is for information only. If you need proof of an order for official use, get a certified copy, called the naqal, from the court copying branch.
How a family case actually moves
The procedure is simple, and the court fee for any family suit is one rupee.
The suit starts with a plaint. The plaint must list the witnesses you plan to produce. The court then fixes the first date for the other side to appear, ordinarily within 30 days. In Punjab the limit is 15 days.
At the pre trial hearing, the judge reads the plaint and the written statement, tries to settle the dispute, and if that fails, frames the issues and fixes a date for evidence. Witnesses give their evidence in their own words. In a maintenance suit, the court fixes interim maintenance on the first appearance of the defendant. If the defendant does not pay by the 14th of each month, his defence can be struck off and the suit decided on the plaint itself.
After the evidence closes, the court makes one more attempt at reconciliation. If that fails, the judge announces the judgment and passes the decree.
Time limits that work for you
The law pushes family cases to move fast. Under section 12A, a family case, including a suit for dissolution of marriage, must be decided within six months of filing. If the court does not decide it in that time, either party can apply to the High Court for directions.
If you lose, you can appeal. An appeal goes to the District Court, or to the High Court when the judge was of District Judge rank. The appeal must be filed within 30 days, and the appellate court must decide it within four months.
A few decrees cannot be appealed. There is no appeal from a decree for dissolution of marriage, except a khula decree. Interim orders cannot be appealed or revised. Small dower and maintenance decrees are also final. In Punjab that bar covers dower up to one hundred thousand rupees and maintenance up to five thousand rupees a month.
Khula cases and the 90 day rule
Dissolution suits have their own rules. If reconciliation fails, the court passes the decree of dissolution immediately. In a khula case, the court may order the wife to return up to half of her deferred dower, or up to a quarter of her admitted prompt dower. The husband must pay any outstanding deferred dower.
One point surprises many people. A decree dissolving a Muslim marriage does not take effect until 90 days after the court sends a copy to the chairman of the Union Council. If the couple reconciles within those 90 days, the decree becomes void. This is section 21 of the Act.
Our guide on khula in Pakistan walks through the full process, and the high court case status page helps once an appeal moves up.
Your case is not showing up. Now what?
Work through these before you panic:
- New cases can take a few working days to appear after filing
- Check the exact district and bench where the suit was filed
- Enter the case number exactly as written, with the year
- An appeal or revision carries a new number in the higher court
Still nothing? Ask the registry directly, or your lawyer. They can confirm the position in minutes. And if your case has crossed six months without a decision, you can apply to the High Court under section 12A for directions to get it moving.
Guardianship and custody claims are family court matters too. See our guide on guardianship of a minor child in Pakistan for the procedure and the documents you need.
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