Arrest Warrants: Restrictions While Executing Against Individual Debtors

Recently, the General Authority of Dubai Court of Cassation issued a new legal principle under its Decision no. 4 of 2023 ("Decision") concerning the issuance of orders to arrest and bring an individual debtor before an execution judge during coercive execution proceedings to settle the owed debt.

Prior to this new principle, Execution Courts in Dubai have been following the practice of issuing arrest warrants against individual debtors to ensure swifter settlement of the adjudged amount and subjecting the individual debtor subject to provisionary detention upon non-payment. Nonetheless, the Decision asserts that an arrest warrant cannot be issued unless the creditor can prove that: