{"id":153596,"date":"2026-10-30T13:14:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T13:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legal500.com\/guides\/chapter\/united-arab-emirates-family-law\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T14:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T14:24:08","slug":"uae-family-law","status":"publish","type":"comparative_guide","link":"https:\/\/www.legal500.com\/guides\/chapter\/uae-family-law\/","title":{"rendered":"United Arab Emirates: Family Law"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-153596","comparative_guide","type-comparative_guide","status-publish","hentry","guides-family-law","jurisdictions-uae"],"acf":[],"appp":{"post_list":{"below_title":"<div class=\"guide-author-details\"><span class=\"guide-author\">Expatriate Law<\/span><span class=\"guide-author-logo\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.legal500.com\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2024\/12\/Expatriate-Law-Logo_2020.jpg\"\/><\/span><\/div>"},"post_detail":{"above_title":"<div class=\"guide-author-details\"><span class=\"guide-author\">Expatriate Law<\/span><span class=\"guide-author-logo\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.legal500.com\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2024\/12\/Expatriate-Law-Logo_2020.jpg\"\/><\/span><\/div>","below_title":"<span class=\"guide-intro\">This country specific Q&amp;A provides an overview of Family Law laws and regulations applicable in United Arab Emirates<\/span><div class=\"guide-content\"><div class=\"filter\">\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" placeholder=\"Search questions and answers...\" class=\"filter-container__search-field\">\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t<ol class=\"custom-counter\">\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What are the jurisdictional requirements for divorce and property division? How do the concepts of domicile, residence and nationality apply in relation to divorce and financial arrangements?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Jurisdiction is conferred by statute and is not a matter of judicial discretion. Three personalstatus regimes co-exist, and the first task in any case is to identify which applies.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation provides, for Muslims and for foreigners who do not elect another law permitted in the State, that the courts of the State are competent under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 where the defendant has a domicile, residence or place of work in the Emirates, and in further cases including where the marriage was concluded here. Emirati nationality is decisive: a citizen is governed by the federal law whatever other nationality he or she holds, and Article 26 of the Civil Transactions Law 2025 confirms that where a person holds Emirati nationality alongside another, Emirati law applies.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims outside Abu Dhabi, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 provides the civil forum, applying to non-Muslim citizens and non-Muslim foreign residents on comparable nexus rules. For Abu Dhabi, Law No. 14 of 2021 and Resolution No. 8 of 2022 confer on the Civil Family Court subject-matter jurisdiction over civil family claims arising from marriage, divorce, custody, maintenance, succession and lineage; territorial jurisdiction under Article 4 of the Regulation wherever a party has a domicile, residence, workplace or property in the Emirate, or where the marriage was celebrated there; and personal jurisdiction over foreigners and over non-Muslim citizens who elect it.<\/p>\n<p>Published ADJD guidance states that Muslims who are not UAE citizens may contract a civil marriage, and identifies residence, a civil marriage and nationality of a country not governed by Sharia law among the eligibility criteria for the civil divorce process. In the decisions reviewed by the authors in 2025 and 2026, the Civil Family Court has accepted jurisdiction over Muslim foreigners whose countries of nationality do not primarily apply Islamic Sharia, following the approach taken by the Emirate&#8217;s appellate tiers in 2024; and it has treated residence, employment or property of one party as sufficient, notwithstanding a tenancy or residence permit of the other party in another Emirate, parallel foreign proceedings, or a contractual choice of a foreign forum. Practitioners should treat that as consistent observed practice rather than as a settled rule of general application, and should check the current ADJD eligibility guidance in any borderline case.<\/p>\n<p>As to scale, the Judicial Department reported in January 2026 that the Civil Family Court had registered approximately 53,000 civil marriages and 21,000 civil wills since 2021, with some 19,000 marriages and 640 civil divorces in 2025. Domicile in the common-law sense plays no part in any regime; residence, employment, property and nationality determine both forum and, subject to what follows, applicable law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What factors do local courts take into account when determining forum\/jurisdiction issues? In what circumstances (if at all) would your jurisdiction stay divorce proceedings in favour of proceedings in another country?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>The legislation contains no doctrine of forum non conveniens. Neither the Civil Procedure Code nor the personal-status statutes empowers a court to decline a jurisdiction the statute confers because a foreign court would be more convenient, and Article 21 of the Civil Transactions Law 2025 confirms that jurisdiction and procedure are governed by the law of the country in which the action is brought. Concurrent proceedings are tolerated; conflicts are managed at the stage of recognition.<\/p>\n<p>Two qualifications are recorded. In the authors&#8217; experience the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court has, exceptionally, paused proceedings for a limited period where both parties consented and a foreign court had restrained continuation of the Abu Dhabi litigation; such stays rest on comity and case management rather than on any statutory power.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, there is emerging first-instance practice, in decisions reviewed by the authors in 2026, of dismissing a claim to revisit a foreign maintenance order where the children and the claimant live abroad, on the footing that the court which made the order, being also the court of the children&#8217;s residence, is the appropriate forum to vary it, notwithstanding that jurisdiction over the resident defendant was upheld. That reasoning has not to the authors&#8217; knowledge been tested on appeal, and it sits uneasily with the absence of any statutory forum discretion. Practitioners should treat it as a live risk in cross-border maintenance cases and should frame claims as fresh claims under the Emirati statute rather than as applications to vary a foreign order.<\/p>\n<p>The factors the courts examine are documentary: a residence permit, an authenticated tenancy, a title deed, an employment contract, a marriage certificate showing where and under what regime the marriage was concluded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Is applicable law relevant in your jurisdiction \u2013 when and how would this apply?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Applicable law is relevant, and the position stated in earlier editions of this guide requires substantial revision, both because of the choice-of-law provisions in the personal-status statutes and because of the new Civil Transactions Law.<\/p>\n<p>Taking the personal-status statutes first, the legislation provides that Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 applies to citizens and, by default, to foreigners, while permitting a foreigner to request the application of the law of his or her country so far as the applicable legislation of the State allows, and permitting the parties to agree upon another personal status law in force in the State. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 likewise allows non-Muslim foreigners to elect the law of their nationality or another law in force in the State. Abu Dhabi Law No. 14 of 2021 provides that, unless the foreigner requests the application of the law of his or her country, the Abu Dhabi law governs marriage, divorce, succession, wills and lineage.<\/p>\n<p>Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 promulgating the Civil Transactions Law, in force since 1 June 2026, replaced the conflict-of-laws provisions of the 1985 Civil Code and is directly relevant to international family cases. Article 12 subjects the substantive conditions for the validity of a marriage to the law of the country in which it was concluded, and treats the form as valid if it complies with the formalities of the place of celebration or of the law of each spouse. Article 13 applies the law of the country in which the marriage was concluded to the personal and property effects of the marriage and to divorce, judicial divorce and separation, a change of connecting factor from the position under the 1985 Code. Article 14 provides that where one spouse was or became an Emirati national and retained that nationality until the action was brought, Emirati law alone applies, save as to capacity to marry. Article 15 subjects maintenance between relatives to the law of the person liable; Article 16 subjects guardianship and the protection of persons lacking capacity to the law of the person to be protected; and Article 17 governs succession and dispositions on death, with Emirati law applying to a foreigner&#8217;s immovable property in the State. Article 25 provides that a person holding several nationalities is governed by the law of the nationality under which he or she entered the State, and Article 26 that Emirati nationality prevails where it is one of them. Renvoi is excluded except where the foreign rules refer back to Emirati law (Article 28); a foreign law contrary to public order or morals is not applied (Article 29); and Emirati law applies where the foreign law cannot be proved or its meaning determined (Article 30).<\/p>\n<p>The relationship between the new Code and the personal-status legislation is important and, in the authors&#8217; view, is easily overstated. Article 22 of the Civil Transactions Law provides that its conflict rules do not apply where a special law or an international treaty in force in the State provides otherwise, and Article 4(3) provides that a special provision is not repealed or amended by a later general provision unless the legislation expressly so provides. Article 3 further treats the personal status of Muslims as a matter of public order. The three personal-status statutes therefore continue to govern within their own fields, and the Civil Transactions Law operates as the residual conflicts framework and as a gap-filler, notably for questions those statutes do not address. Practitioners should nonetheless plead the new Code where it assists, and should expect argument about its interaction with the special regimes to develop.<\/p>\n<p>In practice the election of a foreign law is procedural before it is substantive. In the decisions reviewed by the authors, the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court has applied a foreign law only where an attested and certified copy of the relevant provisions was filed in both languages, the prescribed fee paid, and the claim itself framed under that law; invoking a foreign statute in argument, without a claim framed under it, produced a decision under Emirati law. Where those conditions were met the court applied German maintenance law and, by agreement, English needs-based principles; in the German case the maintenance was divided between both parents as that statute provides, and in the English case the claim was dismissed for want of a costed statement of need. The authors have observed that a party who elects the Emirati regime by filing under it will not readily be permitted to resist its consequences later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What are the grounds for divorce and are they fault-based? What is the broad procedure and timeline for divorce?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>The two schemes diverge. For Muslims the legislation retains divorce by the husband&#8217;s pronouncement, divorce by consent, judicial divorce for harm and the wife&#8217;s khul&#8217;. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 modernised the procedure: the arbitration process in cases of discord was shortened to sixty days; khul&#8217; may be ordered by the judge notwithstanding the husband&#8217;s refusal; referral to family guidance became a matter for the supervising judge, to be ordered where beneficial, rather than an invariable precondition; and urgent maintenance, custody and guardianship matters are exempt from referral. Fault remains embedded in the judicial routes.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims the model is no-fault. Article 12 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 provides that the expression by one spouse of a desire to separate suffices at the first hearing, without justification or proof of fault, and Article 39 excludes civil divorce and its effects from family guidance. Published ADJD guidance describes the same no-fault procedure and states that the court aims to finalise the case within one month of filing; the Department reported 640 civil divorces in 2025. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 is to the same effect for non-Muslims elsewhere in the State.<\/p>\n<p>The decree records joint custody of any children and reserves financial questions to separate claims on prescribed forms. In the decisions reviewed by the authors, an objecting spouse who invoked a foreign law without a claim framed under it, or who filed a counterclaim without the prescribed fee, did not delay the decree; and a marriage already annulled by a final judgment in another Emirate was held to leave nothing to dissolve. Sequencing is strict, and is addressed under questions 13 and 21.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What are the requirements for service of divorce proceedings in your jurisdiction? Can you make a joint application for a divorce in your jurisdiction?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Service is effected through the court under the Civil Procedure Code, in Arabic and, in the civil regimes, in English. The claim is registered on the prescribed bilingual form and the respondent notified of the claim and the hearing date, increasingly by electronic means: the Code authorises electronic notification, and Federal Judicial Council Resolution No. 69 of 2025 has extended reliance on electronic authentication across the federal courts. Where the respondent is abroad, notification proceeds through the channels the Code prescribes; where the respondent is represented, service at the elected domicile suffices. A party who neither appeared nor defended is entitled to notification of the judgment before appeal periods run.<\/p>\n<p>Documents must be in Arabic or accompanied by a certified translation. The authors have observed that the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court will reject from the bar a memorandum filed without a certified Arabic translation, and foreign exhibits without translation. Hearings in the civil regimes are frequently conducted by video, and remote attendance from abroad is routine.<\/p>\n<p>A joint application is possible in both civil regimes, and a settlement package presented jointly is the fastest route to a complete outcome, since the court may annex the agreement and give it executive force. It is not necessary: the unilateral declaration of one spouse suffices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Are the following recognised in your jurisdiction? a. Foreign marriages; b. Foreign civil partnerships \/ civil unions; c. Customary marriages, or d. Religious marriages.<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Foreign marriages are recognised if valid under the law of the place of celebration and not contrary to public order. That position now has a direct statutory foundation in Article 12 of the Civil Transactions Law 2025, which subjects the substantive conditions of validity to the law of the country of celebration and treats the form as valid if it complies with the formalities of that country or of the law of each spouse; Article 29 preserves the public-order exception. Once attested, translated and, where required, registered, such marriages are given effect, and in the decisions reviewed by the authors the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court has dissolved marriages celebrated in Europe, North America, Asia and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Religious and customary marriages are recognised where they satisfy the formalities of the jurisdiction in which they were concluded. A religious marriage concluded in the Emirates between Muslims is governed by the 2024 law, and Federal Judicial Council Resolution No. 70 of 2025 regulates the licensing of Sharia marriage officers and permits contracts to be concluded electronically and remotely.<\/p>\n<p>Civil partnerships and civil unions are not provided for in any of the personal-status regimes, and the authors are not aware of any instance in which such a status has been recognised, whether created here or abroad. A practitioner should proceed on the basis that no such status will be given effect, while noting that the question has not, so far as the authors are aware, been the subject of a reported decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Are same sex marriages \/ unions recognised in your jurisdiction and if so, how?  Does your jurisdiction recognise same sex marriages \/ unions that have taken place in another jurisdiction?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Same-sex marriages and unions are not recognised. They cannot be concluded within the State, and marriages or unions of that kind entered into abroad are not given effect; the position is treated as one of public order, and Article 29 of the Civil Transactions Law 2025 preserves the public-order exception to the application of any foreign law. No development in the period under review has altered this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What are the substantive financial orders (e.g. capital, property, pensions and maintenance \/ alimony) the court can make?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>For Muslims the legislation remains one of obligations rather than redistribution. Under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 a wife may claim maintenance during the marriage and for the waiting period, the deferred dower, and compensation in defined circumstances; children are entitled to maintenance, housing and education from the father. The 2024 law clarified the assessment by reference to income and standard of living, permitted a limited retrospective claim for arrears, and allowed a monetary housing allowance in place of housing in kind. It does not create community of property.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims the powers are wider. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 permits a divorced spouse to claim financial provision by reference to the length of the marriage, the parties&#8217; financial circumstances, the harm suffered and responsibility for the breakdown. In 2026 the<\/p>\n<p>Dubai Court of Cassation, in a decision reported in the legal press, drew a distinction under Article 9 of that law between compensation connected to the divorce and its consequences, which falls to the personal status court, and claims for personal injury unconnected with the divorce, which belong to the civil courts.<\/p>\n<p>For Abu Dhabi the legislation provides a defined toolkit. Article 17 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 allows the court to appoint an accounting expert to assess the spouses&#8217; financial position. Article 18(1) sets out criteria by which the court and the expert may be guided in estimating the compensation due after divorce: a cash percentage of not less than 25 per cent of the husband&#8217;s last monthly income, taken from a salary certificate or the last account statement, whichever is the greater, multiplied by the number of years of marriage; a percentage of the husband&#8217;s property and wealth, including real estate, investments and movables; and any joint account and the extent of the parties&#8217; participation in it. Article 18(2) expressly confers discretion on the court to decide the amount according to the circumstances of the divorce, and to increase or decrease it and determine the method of calculation, payment and settlement. Article 20 provides for housing support for the divorced woman and for provisional alimony; Article 23 imposes on the father the duty of expenditure on the children, including education, residence and treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Although Article 18 thus confers a discretion and describes the percentage calculation as a criterion by which the court may be guided, in the decisions reviewed by the authors in 2025 and 2026 there is a highly consistent practice of taking 25 per cent of the husband&#8217;s last monthly income multiplied by the years of marriage, computed to two decimal places, as the principal calculation in contested cases; awards so calculated ranged from AED 10,000 after a one-year marriage to over AED 900,000 after twenty-three years. The authors have observed that the contested variable is almost always the income figure: the court has adopted the accounting expert&#8217;s finding, allowances included, and where a spouse did not disclose income it has adopted the other spouse&#8217;s figure. Pensions were not divided in any decision reviewed; they were treated as the income of the party entitled. Orders were not made in respect of assets outside the State, and clauses in consent orders concerning foreign real estate were excised from the judgment, which is why the authors draft such provisions as personal covenants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What are the guiding principles adopted in your jurisdiction in relation to the division of assets?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>For Muslims the principle is separation of property. Each spouse retains what is held in his or her name, and the court enforces the obligations of maintenance and dower rather than equalising resources.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims the statutory language is one of fairness exercised through the criteria described above, with an express discretion preserved by Article 18(2) of Resolution No. 8 of 2022. In the decisions reviewed by the authors that discretion has in practice been exercised sparingly, and usually only to increase an award where the husband&#8217;s own proposal was plainly inadequate; jointly held assets within the State were divided in accordance with the expert&#8217;s findings. The practical consequence, on the authors&#8217; experience, is that the outcome of a contested financial claim in Abu Dhabi is unusually predictable once two facts are known, the payer&#8217;s last monthly income and the length of the marriage, and that evidence of income is the centre of the case. The authors have also observed that a spouse who pays voluntarily, who leases the family home or meets school fees without an order, is credited for it and is not ordered to pay twice.<\/p>\n<p>Where the parties have elected a foreign law the court applies that law&#8217;s own principles, though in the decisions reviewed by the authors it has done so in its own idiom, as described under question 3.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Can the court make interim financial provision during proceedings? (including for legal and interim maintenance \/ alimony costs) during the proceedings, and what factors are taken into account?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Yes. The legislation provides in the 2024 law that urgent maintenance, custody and guardianship matters are exempt from referral to family guidance and may be dealt with by orders on petition; the 2025 regulations reinforce the summary machinery. In the civil regimes the judge may direct interim maintenance for a spouse and children, and Article 20 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 provides for provisional alimony, with a right of objection, while Article 42 provides for protective and provisional orders.<\/p>\n<p>The authors&#8217; experience is that practice is more restrictive than the text suggests: petitions for provisional orders in Abu Dhabi are frequently refused summarily, and interim provision is more readily granted where the need is immediate and the figure modest and evidenced. Interim provision does not extend to legal costs. Each party bears its own costs, and the successful party recovers court fees and expenses together with the fixed attorney&#8217;s fee that the Civil Procedure Code allows, which is nominal. The absence of a legal-costs jurisdiction is structural and shapes the economics of contested litigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">How is ongoing spousal maintenance \/ alimony dealt with \u2013 is it typically awarded for a fixed term or on an ongoing basis? Is there a standard formula for calculating the amount and duration, or do judges retain discretion?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>In the Muslim regime the legislation confines spousal maintenance to the marriage and the waiting period after divorce; there is no lifelong alimony, and the 2024 law refines the assessment by reference to income and standard of living.<\/p>\n<p>In the civil regimes the concept differs in kind. The Abu Dhabi Regulation provides for financial compensation payable on divorce, assessed on the Article 18 criteria, rather than for continuing periodical payments between former spouses; the children&#8217;s maintenance continues. Judges retain the discretion Article 18(2) confers. In the decisions reviewed by the authors the percentage calculation has operated as the working measure in contested cases, and applications for continuing maintenance by an employed spouse with a fixed income were refused. Under the federal civil law a periodical award is available in principle, and the authors have observed a comparable tendency towards finite provision.<\/p>\n<p>Variation is constrained: the legislation permits a fresh application to modify the value of alimony after a year, or as the applicable provisions allow, and in the decisions reviewed by the authors an application made ten months after judgment was dismissed with costs. Maintenance and custody judgments were treated as carrying only temporary res judicata, yielding to demonstrated changes of circumstance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What is the process for recognising and enforcing foreign financial orders?  How is enforcement dealt with to ensure compliance with financial orders following divorce in your jurisdiction?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>The legislation provides for enforcement of foreign judgments under Articles 222 to 225 of the Civil Procedure Code by application to the execution judge, without a fresh action on the merits. The conditions include that the foreign court had jurisdiction and that the courts of the State did not have exclusive jurisdiction over the dispute; that the judgment is final and enforceable in the state of origin; that the parties were duly summoned and represented; and that the judgment does not conflict with a judgment already given in the State or with public order or morals. Reciprocity is a further consideration in practice. Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2025, in force from 1 January 2026, amended the Civil Procedure Code in respects that bear on this area, including the filing requirements for appeals in Article 164, the grounds for and monetary threshold of cassation in Article 175, and the powers of the Public Prosecutor to challenge final judgments in Article 176; practitioners should work from the amended text.<\/p>\n<p>Family orders raise particular difficulty. In the proceedings reviewed by the authors, the executory formula was refused for a foreign child-support order on the footing that the Emirati courts were themselves competent, and a subsequent fresh claim to recalibrate that support was dismissed on the forum reasoning described under question 2. A claimant may thus face difficulty by both routes; in the authors&#8217; view the safer course is a fresh claim under the Emirati statute, framed as such, against a resident payer.<\/p>\n<p>Domestic enforcement is efficient. Judgments of the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court carry the executive formula and are enforced by the execution department, and the legislation does not stay execution merely because an appeal has been filed; consent orders annexed under Articles 77 and 81 of the Civil Procedure Code are enforced as executive instruments. Dubai Courts have reported an automated system for calculating financial claims in personal status execution files. Compliance with child-related orders is separately policed by the fines described under question 22.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Can financial claims be made in your jurisdiction after an overseas divorce?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Yes. A foreign divorce, once attested and registered, does not exhaust the jurisdiction of the Emirati courts over financial matters. For Muslims the claim proceeds under the 2024 law; for non-Muslims under the civil regimes. In Abu Dhabi the legislation provides that applications following divorce are made on the prescribed post-divorce claims form, and in the decisions reviewed by the authors the court has entertained such claims from spouses divorced in Europe and in other Emirates. The claim is governed by Emirati law unless a foreign law is properly elected.<\/p>\n<p>Three limits emerge from the decisions the authors have reviewed. A marriage annulled abroad by a final judgment was held to yield no claim to dissolve it a second time. A claim concerning children resident abroad with the claimant faces the forum reasoning described under question 2. And a prior agreement between the spouses will be enforced according to its terms, though an agreement silent as to the statutory financial compensation was held not to exclude it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Does your jurisdiction operate a marital property regime and if so, which?  Is there a default matrimonial property regime? Are foreign property regimes recognised and if not, in what circumstances?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>There is no community of property and no default matrimonial property regime in the continental sense. For Muslims, separation of property is entrenched in the 2024 law. For nonMuslims the civil regimes take separate ownership as the default while permitting the spouses to regulate the financial incidents of the marriage by contract: Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 treats the civil marriage as a contract into which conditions may be inserted, including as to financial claims on divorce, and the Abu Dhabi Regulation permits a pre-marital agreement to be registered with the civil marriage contract. Published ADJD material indicates that its online marriage service supports the registration of prenuptial agreements.<\/p>\n<p>As to foreign regimes, the position must now be read with Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025. Article 13 applies the law of the country in which the marriage was concluded to the property effects of the marriage, subject to Article 14 where a spouse is an Emirati national, to Article 18 which subjects immovable property to the law of its location, to Article 29 on public order and to Article 30 where the foreign law cannot be proved. That is a materially different starting point from the position stated in earlier editions of this guide. It is, however, qualified by Article 22, under which those rules do not apply where a special law provides otherwise, and by Article 4(3), under which a special provision is not repealed by a later general one: within their fields the personal-status statutes and their own election mechanisms continue to govern. The authors&#8217; expectation is that a foreign matrimonial property regime will continue not to be applied of the court&#8217;s own motion, and that a party wishing to rely on one should both elect the foreign law in the manner the personal-status legislation requires and plead the relevant provisions of the new Code. In all cases a child&#8217;s right to maintenance cannot be contracted away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">To what extent are pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements binding? Is it different if the prenuptial or post nuptial agreement was concluded in your jurisdiction (as opposed to another jurisdiction)?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>For Muslims the position is unchanged. A nuptial agreement in the western sense has no independent force; the effective instrument is the marriage contract, in which conditions may be stipulated and the dower recorded, and personal status rights are treated as matters of public order, a characterisation now reinforced by Article 3 of the Civil Transactions Law 2025. A foreign prenuptial agreement produced to a personal status court is at most evidence of intention.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims agreements are binding and, in the authors&#8217; experience, are the most reliable instrument in the system. The legislation permits the court to annex agreements and give them the force of an executive instrument under Articles 77 and 81 of the Civil Procedure Code. In the decisions reviewed by the authors the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court has reproduced the agreed text in the judgment and has given effect to conditional structures of some sophistication, including staged payments contingent on the withdrawal of foreign proceedings and exclusivejurisdiction and release clauses.<\/p>\n<p>Three lessons emerge from those decisions. An agreement is enforced according to its terms years later: a settlement annexed in 2018 defeated a fresh custody claim in 2025, absent proof of changed circumstances. An agreement that did not expressly address the statutory financial compensation was held not to exclude it. And provisions concerning real estate outside the State were excised, which is why the authors draft them as personal covenants.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign agreements are admissible on compliance with local formalities: certified translation, notarisation and legalisation through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The authors&#8217; practice is to execute a mirror agreement in the Emirates, to sign both language versions, to anticipate that the parties will be asked to acknowledge the agreement before the Case Preparation Office and again before the court, and to draft the document as the order it will become, leaving no field for the court to complete.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">How is maintenance for a child dealt with in your jurisdiction? What is the duration of a child maintenance order?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Across the three regimes the primary statutory obligation for child maintenance is placed on the father, is not displaced merely by the custody arrangement, and is treated as a matter of public order that cannot be waived. Under the 2024 law the father provides accommodation, education, medical care and daily needs until majority at eighteen, extended where the child continues in education or cannot be self-sufficient, with the quantum reflecting his means and the standard of living; the law also allows a limited retrospective claim and prioritises timely payment. Article 23 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 imposes on the father in Abu Dhabi the duty of expenditure on the children, including education, residence and treatment, and gives the court power to estimate the children&#8217;s expenses.<\/p>\n<p>In the decisions reviewed by the authors the Abu Dhabi court has ordered a single comprehensive monthly sum for each child, inclusive of components other than housing, with school fees, health insurance and residence costs ordered as separate duties of the father, and has refused itemised claims for a domestic helper, furniture, utilities, transport or air fares as forming part of the comprehensive sum. In those decisions the comprehensive figure ranged from AED 3,000 to AED 8,000 a month per child according to age and the father&#8217;s income, with housing allowances between AED 60,000 and AED 100,000 a year. The authors have observed that an employed mother is expected to contribute from her own income and that a father paying voluntarily is credited. The order runs to majority; where the child will remain in full-time education the authors advise seeking an express provision, since the default terminus is eighteen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">With the exception of child maintenance, does the court have power to make any orders for financial provision for a child, e.g. housing and\/or capital sums?  If so, in what circumstances?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Yes. In the Muslim regime the legislation permits the father to be ordered to provide housing for the custodian and children or, since the 2024 law, an annual housing allowance in its place, together with education and medical costs, as elements of maintenance rather than separate heads. In Abu Dhabi, Article 20 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 provides for housing support for the divorced woman, and Article 23 for the father&#8217;s expenditure on the children. Federal DecreeLaw No. 41 of 2022, read with Cabinet Decision No. 122 of 2023, confirms that educational, medical and residential expenses fall within the father&#8217;s obligation.<\/p>\n<p>In the decisions reviewed by the authors, housing was ordered in most contested cases, and refused where the father was already providing the family home voluntarily or where the mother had removed the child abroad against his will. Capital sums for a child, as distinct from the spouse&#8217;s financial compensation, are not a recognised head in any of the regimes; in the authors&#8217; practice capital protection for children is achieved through agreement, structures abroad, or testamentary provision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Is cohabitation recognised and if so, how?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Consensual cohabitation between adults is no longer an offence, and unmarried couples may live together without penal consequence. Recognition in the criminal sense has not been matched in family law: cohabitation confers no civil status and creates no rights or obligations between the partners under any of the three regimes. The one material extension in recent years lies in reproductive medicine, where the 2023 amendments to the law on medically assisted reproduction opened those services, subject to regulatory approval, to non-Muslim persons without a marriage certificate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What financial claims, if any, do cohabitees have when they separate and how are such claims determined i.e. what are the guiding principles?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>None arise under the personal-status legislation. Property remains with its legal owner, and there is no jurisdiction in the family courts to award maintenance or to redistribute assets by reference to cohabitation. The exception concerns children: once paternity is acknowledged or established, the father&#8217;s duty of maintenance and the mother&#8217;s position as custodian follow under the relevant regime as they would after a marriage. Claims between the adults in respect of jointly acquired property lie, if at all, in the ordinary civil courts under the law of obligations, now recodified in Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What is the legal status of separated parents in relation to their children? Does it make a difference if the parents were never married?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>For Muslims the legislation retains the distinction between custody, the day-to-day care of the child, and guardianship, the legal authority over education, health, property and travel, while framing both around the best interests of the child. Under the 2024 law custody runs to eighteen for boys and girls alike; the guardian may retain the child&#8217;s passport subject to handing it over for lawful travel, and a guardian who withholds it may be ordered to surrender it to the custodian. Federal Judicial Council Resolution No. 68 of 2025 supplies a uniform framework for the making and enforcement of visitation orders in the federal courts.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims both civil regimes replace the dichotomy with joint custody. Article 25 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 establishes equal joint custody, legal and physical, until the child reaches sixteen, after which the child has the right to choose the custodian, and Article 26 provides for joint custody to be recorded in the divorce ruling; published ADJD guidance likewise states that joint physical and legal custody applies automatically on divorce. Articles 32 to 34 govern the removal of a parent from joint custody and its cancellation. Where the parents were never married no rights arise between them, but once paternity is established the child&#8217;s rights against the father and the mother&#8217;s custodial role follow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What are the jurisdictional requirements for child arrangements\/child custody proceedings?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>The same statutory nexus rules apply as for divorce: the federal courts where the child or a parent resides in the State; the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court where the divorce was granted there or where either parent has a domicile, residence, workplace or property in the Emirate. In the decisions reviewed by the authors, one parent&#8217;s Abu Dhabi tenancy sufficed although the other parent and the children lived in another Emirate, and the court assumed jurisdiction to define arrangements after divorces granted elsewhere in the State and abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Sequencing matters as much as nexus. In those decisions a request to define the division of the children&#8217;s time within the divorce proceedings was treated as premature and left to a separate claim after the decree, and relief not pleaded on the prescribed form was not decided. Where the children live abroad with the applicant, the forum reasoning described under question 2 is a live risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What is the legal position in relation to contact following the breakdown of a relationship? What types of orders can the court make in relation to child custody\/a child\u2019s living arrangements and what are the guiding principles?  What steps are followed to hear the voice of the child?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>In the Muslim regime the legislation confers a right of visitation on the non-custodial parent, regulated by reference to the child&#8217;s welfare and, since Resolution No. 68 of 2025, by a uniform federal framework which the Ministry of Justice describes as prioritising the child&#8217;s psychological and social well-being in the making and enforcement of orders.<\/p>\n<p>In the civil regimes joint custody is the default and, where the parents do not agree, Article 28 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 provides for the division of joint custody, Article 35 for an application for the court&#8217;s intervention and Article 36 for the court&#8217;s decision in disputes arising from joint custody; Articles 37 and 38 govern travel and travel bans.<\/p>\n<p>In the decisions reviewed by the authors in 2025 and 2026 the Abu Dhabi court&#8217;s practice has been notably consistent, though it remains an exercise of the discretion those articles confer. For children of school age it has ordered alternating weeks, with school holidays, public holidays and religious festivals divided equally in the same sequence, decisions to be taken after consultation, no foreign travel without the other parent&#8217;s written consent or the court&#8217;s permission, electronic contact preserved, and the passport held by one parent and the identity card by the other. For very young children it has declined overnight contact until about the age of four and ordered a graduated pattern from electronic contact through supervised visitation to equal time. Bespoke rotations proposed by one parent were not adopted in the contested cases reviewed, though they appear in annexed agreements. Removal of a parent from joint custody was refused where neither distance, unpaid maintenance nor residence abroad was accompanied by an Article 33 ground, and granted where a parent was imprisoned abroad.<\/p>\n<p>The child&#8217;s voice is heard through court-appointed social experts and, in Abu Dhabi, the Family Care Authority. In the decisions reviewed by the authors the court followed such reports where they existed, while treating the appointment of an expert as a matter for its own discretion and refusing one where it considered the file sufficient; and it responded adversely to assertions that children feared the other parent unsupported by independent evidence. Compliance is enforced under Article 40 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022, which provides for fines, and Article 41, which provides for the deduction of custody days; in the decisions reviewed, fines were imposed per day of breach and doubled on repetition, and orders were made under the Wadeema childprotection law restraining publication of a child&#8217;s image, in one case against both parents on the evidence before the court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What are the rules relating to the relocation of a child within and outside your jurisdiction and what are the guiding principles?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>For Muslims the legislation prohibits the custodian from removing the child from the State without the guardian&#8217;s consent or the court&#8217;s permission, and the 2024 law provides a procedure by which either parent may seek leave for permanent relocation. For non-Muslims Article 37 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 prohibits either parent from travelling abroad with the child without the other&#8217;s written consent or judicial permission, and Article 38 provides for travel bans; the court may require security for the child&#8217;s return. The federal civil law is to like effect.<\/p>\n<p>Relocation is not a distinct cause of action in the legislation, and in the authors&#8217; practice it continues to be channelled through the travel provisions. In the decisions reviewed, applications for temporary travel succeeded where they were concrete, with destination, dates, return ticket and a guarantee of return, and failed where they invited the court to sanction an open-ended stay; permanent relocation was assessed by the same welfare test the court applies to custody generally. The authors have observed that a parent who removes a child unilaterally does not improve his or her position: in one decision a mother who took the child abroad against the father&#8217;s will was refused a housing allowance and her application to exclude him was dismissed. A move between Emirates is not restrained, but its effect on the division of time has been addressed by a graduated order.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What is the process for recognising and enforcing foreign orders for contact\/custody of children?  Does your court operate a system of mirror orders?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Foreign custody and contact orders may be recognised and enforced under Articles 222 to 225 of the Civil Procedure Code on the conditions described under question 12, subject to the welfare of the child and to public order; Article 16 of the Civil Transactions Law 2025 subjects the substantive matters of guardianship and the protection of persons lacking capacity to the law of the person to be protected.<\/p>\n<p>Practice is cautious. In the authors&#8217; experience a foreign order inconsistent with the civil regimes&#8217; presumption of joint custody, or with the welfare of the child as the court assesses it, is not enforced as such, and the Emirati court decides the child&#8217;s arrangements anew under its own law; a foreign order is treated as relevant evidence of the parties&#8217; history. Where the parties agree, the court will annex the terms of a foreign order, adapted to local law, to a consent judgment, producing what practitioners call a mirror order; in the authors&#8217; view that is the most reliable route to enforceability and is routinely used by families moving between the Emirates and Europe or North America. In the authors&#8217; experience recognition has been most secure for orders that reflect the Emirati defaults and least secure for those that depart from them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What is the legal position on international abduction? Is your jurisdiction a signatory of The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>The United Arab Emirates is not a Contracting State to the 1980 Hague Convention, and no accession occurred in the period under review; nor, so far as the authors are aware, are there bilateral abduction treaties in force with the principal expatriate home states. There is accordingly no treaty mechanism for the summary return of a child wrongfully removed to or retained in the Emirates, and no central authority. A foreign return order is evidence rather than a judgment to be executed, and the removal is litigated as a custody dispute under domestic law.<\/p>\n<p>Domestic law is nonetheless protective. The legislation provides in the 2024 law that the custodian may not take a child abroad without the guardian&#8217;s written consent or the court&#8217;s leave, permits the court to require guarantees of return, and attaches criminal liability to removal in breach of an order. In Abu Dhabi, Articles 37 and 38 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 prohibit travel without the other parent&#8217;s written consent or the court&#8217;s permission and provide for travel bans, and Article 40 provides for fines for breach of a custody order. In the decisions reviewed by the authors, a fine of AED 80,000 was imposed for a single episode in which a three-year-old was left with a nanny for eight days while the custodial parent was abroad, and was affirmed on appeal.<\/p>\n<p>In the authors&#8217; experience prevention is substantially more reliable than seeking a remedy after removal. Travel bans, passport orders, security for return and mirror orders in both jurisdictions should be obtained before travel, not after. Once a child has left the State, or arrived in it, the outcome depends on the domestic court&#8217;s assessment of welfare, which starts from the Emirati defaults of joint custody, equal time and stability in the child&#8217;s current setting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What is the status of surrogacy arrangements and are surrogates permitted to be paid? Is surrogacy available to individuals and cohabiting couples (both heterosexual and same-sex)?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>The position should be stated with care. Federal Decree-Law No. 17 of 2023, amending Federal Law No. 7 of 2019 on medically assisted reproduction, removed the previous express federal prohibition on the fertilisation of an egg and its implantation in the womb of another woman, and extended medically assisted reproduction to non-Muslim persons without a marriage certificate, subject to the approval of the competent health authority. It did not itself establish a comprehensive federal surrogacy regime, and the amended framework leaves scope for regulation at the level of each Emirate.<\/p>\n<p>The practical consequence is that surrogacy is no longer prohibited by the federal statute for those within the amended provisions, but its availability depends on the licensing and regulatory decisions of the competent health authorities and on the willingness of licensed centres to provide the service. The authors are not aware, as at 30 September 2026, of a comprehensive executive regulation addressing surrogate eligibility, permissible reimbursement, or the procedure for establishing the parentage of a child born of such an arrangement, and practitioners should obtain current regulatory confirmation on each of those matters rather than infer them from the removal of the prohibition. What the legislation does provide is that the gametes must be those of the couple concerned, that anonymous donation remains prohibited, and that fertilised eggs may be preserved for renewable five-year periods.<\/p>\n<p>Surrogacy is not available to Muslim couples, whose position is governed by the religious rule, nor to same-sex couples, whose relationship is not recognised. The amended legislation permits non-Muslim persons without a marriage certificate to seek the approval contemplated by the statutory assisted-reproduction framework; whether a particular surrogacy arrangement will be approved is a matter for confirmation with the relevant regulator.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What is the legal position in relation to adoption? Is adoption available to individuals and cohabiting couples (both heterosexual and same-sex)?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Adoption in the sense of severing and re-creating legal parentage is not available under Emirati law to Muslims, for whom kafala, a form of guardianship and care preserving the child&#8217;s lineage, is the recognised institution. The most significant development of the review period is the enlargement of that institution. Federal Decree-Law No. 12 of 2025, published in the Official Gazette in late November 2025, amended the law on children of unknown parentage so that custody may be granted to a family resident in the State on a joint application by both spouses, each at least twenty-five years of age, and to an eligible woman resident in the State who is at least thirty and financially capable of supporting herself and the child; detailed residency conditions are referred to executive regulations, and a specialised committee is to monitor custodial families, impose corrective plans and, where conditions are not met, remove the child. Fostering is thus open to resident expatriates as well as citizens, though it does not create parentage.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims the civil regimes provide for the recognition of adoptions lawfully concluded abroad, and in the decisions reviewed by the authors the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court has given effect to foreign guardianship arrangements, in one 2026 case granting custody of a child to a resident aunt following the death of the mother and the unfitness of the father. There remains no procedure for a de novo adoption within the State. Adoption or fostering is not available to same-sex couples, and unmarried couples cannot apply jointly, though an individual may seek recognition of a foreign order naming him or her as a parent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">What forms of non-court dispute resolution (including mediation) are available in your jurisdiction? Is non-court dispute resolution mandatory? What is the status of agreements reached via NCDR?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>The architecture was reshaped in the review period. For Muslims the 2024 law recast referral to the Family Guidance and Reconciliation Centre as a matter for the supervising judge, to be ordered where beneficial, and exempted urgent maintenance, custody and guardianship matters.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Judicial Council then issued, on 28 November 2025, five regulatory resolutions implementing the law, which the Ministry of Justice describes as follows: Resolution No. 66 of 2025 on the work of arbitrators in marital disputes and the submission of their reports to the court; Resolution No. 67 of 2025 on family guidance, granting counsellors a broader role in resolving disputes amicably and giving their agreements the force of an executive deed; Resolution No. 68 of 2025 on visitation; Resolution No. 69 of 2025 on affidavits and authentications, promoting electronic authentication; and Resolution No. 70 of 2025 on Sharia marriage officers, permitting contracts to be concluded electronically and remotely. The President has designated 2026 the Year of the Family.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims there is no compulsory conciliation: Article 39 of Resolution No. 8 of 2022 excludes civil divorce and its effects from family guidance, and the claim is filed directly. Settlement is encouraged and, in the authors&#8217; experience, rewarded: the court annexes agreements on money and children under Articles 77 and 81 of the Civil Procedure Code, giving them immediate executive force, and in the decisions reviewed a party who had made a reasonable offer before litigating fared better in the reasons and in costs. Private mediation and arbitration under a clause in a nuptial agreement are available, but their product must be presented to the court for annexation to bind the execution judge. No form of NCDR can bind the court on matters of public order, including a child&#8217;s maintenance and the court&#8217;s supervisory role over custody.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Which areas of family law are likely to see reform in the near future?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>The review period was principally one of implementation. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 bedded in and its five implementing resolutions were issued; Federal Decree-Law No. 12 of 2025 enlarged fostering; and the Civil Transactions Law 2025 came into force on 1 June 2026, replacing the 1985 Code and with it the general conflict-of-laws framework.<\/p>\n<p>Several areas can be expected to develop. First, the interaction between the new Code&#8217;s conflict rules and the special personal-status regimes, which Articles 4(3) and 22 preserve but whose boundaries will be tested; the change of connecting factor in Article 13 to the law of the place of celebration is likely to generate argument in international cases. Secondly, jurisdiction and forum in cross-border matters, where the emerging first-instance practice described under question 2 awaits appellate clarification. Thirdly, the Abu Dhabi civil regime, now handling tens of thousands of registrations a year, has generated a substantial body of consistent practice on financial compensation and on the division of custody; codification of that practice, or amendment of the Regulation to reflect it, and the creation of a distinct relocation procedure, would be natural steps. Fourthly, professional access: Abu Dhabi Judicial Department Decision No. 21 of 2024 created a roll of foreign lawyers with rights of audience before the Civil Family Court, and the first admission of a foreign lawyer to the wider roll of advocates, following judicial training and examination, was reported in August 2026. Fifthly, reproductive law awaits the regulatory detail that would make surrogacy a practical rather than a theoretical option. Sixthly, the fostering reforms require executive regulations, as do the procedural changes introduced by Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2025, whose specialised estate chambers and narrowed cassation route will take time to bed in. Finally, accession to the 1980 Hague Convention remains the reform most sought by the expatriate community and, in the authors&#8217; assessment, the least likely in the short term; the domestic protective machinery has instead been strengthened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">Are family proceedings conducted in private? Is the press allowed to attend hearings? Are judgments made public?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>Family proceedings are heard in private in all three regimes, to protect the dignity of the parties and the welfare of children. Hearings, increasingly conducted by video, are closed to the public and the press has no right of attendance. Judgments are delivered in writing; the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court issues bilingual judgments in Arabic and English, and in the authors&#8217; experience its appellate panels decide appeals in chambers on the papers.<\/p>\n<p>Judgments are not published as a matter of course. They are available to the parties and their counsel, selected decisions appear in official materials, and the Judicial Department publishes aggregate statistics such as the January 2026 figures for marriages, wills and divorces. A practitioner&#8217;s knowledge of the courts&#8217; approach is therefore built largely from the decisions in his or her own matters. Those decisions cannot be cited as authority and, in this civil-law system, bind no later court, which is why this chapter distinguishes throughout between what the legislation provides and what the authors have observed. The balance struck is one of confidentiality for families and predictability through consistent practice rather than through a public body of precedent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"question-block filter-container__element\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"filter-container__match-html\">How does relationship breakdown impact death and estate planning?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button id=\"show-me\">+<\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"question_answer filter-container__match-html\" style=\"display:none;\"><p>For Muslims succession is governed by the fixed shares of Islamic law as codified in the 2024 law. Divorce ends a former spouse&#8217;s status as heir once the waiting period has expired; during a revocable divorce the entitlement endures. The legislation treats inheritance rights as matters of public order, while preserving a foreigner&#8217;s ability to request the application of his or her national law.<\/p>\n<p>The general conflict rules are now those of the Civil Transactions Law 2025. Article 17 provides that succession is governed by the law of the country to which the decedent belonged at death; that the substance of a will or other disposition on death is governed by the law designated in it or, failing that, the law of the disponer&#8217;s nationality at death; that the form is governed by the law designated, the law of nationality when the disposition was made, or the law of the place where it was made; and, importantly for expatriates, that Emirati law applies to a will made by a foreigner concerning immovable property located in the State. Articles 22 and 4(3) again preserve the special regimes, including the civil wills frameworks. Separately, Federal DecreeLaw No. 22 of 2025 amended Article 32 of the Civil Procedure Code to permit the establishment of specialised chambers for estate disputes, with exclusive jurisdiction over administration, liquidation, division and distribution of estates and related disputes including wills and waqf, and with judgments not subject to appeal save by petition for reconsideration; practitioners advising on Emirati estates should check whether such a chamber has been constituted in the relevant judicial authority.<\/p>\n<p>For non-Muslims the civil regimes confer testamentary freedom and a secular intestacy scheme with equal shares between male and female heirs; divorce removes the former spouse from the intestacy line, and a registered will must be revised deliberately. The development of the review period is the opening of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department&#8217;s civil wills registry to non-Emirati Muslims, reported from the second half of 2025, allowing a Muslim expatriate to register a civil will in Abu Dhabi disposing of assets across the Emirates outside the fixed shares. Reported ADJD figures record approximately 11,000 wills registered in 2025, more than double the previous year, with registration available remotely by video using approved bilingual templates, and guardianship of minor children capable of being appointed in the same instrument.<\/p>\n<p>The authors&#8217; practical counsel, now applicable to a wider population, is that on separation or divorce every will should be reviewed; that a registered civil will should be replaced rather than amended; that guardianship appointments and assets held jointly with a former spouse should be reconsidered; and that the interaction of any foreign will with the Emirati registry, with Article 17(5) of the Civil Transactions Law as to immovable property in the State, and with the fixed shares that apply in default, should be tested in advance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n<div class=\"word-count-hidden\" style=\"display:none;\">Estimated word count: <span class=\"word-count\">9287<\/span><\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/ol>\r\n\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/twentyseventeen\/src\/jquery\/components\/filter-guides.js\" async><\/script><\/div>"}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legal500.com\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comparative_guide\/153596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legal500.com\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comparative_guide"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legal500.com\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/comparative_guide"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legal500.com\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}