Family lawyers in Dubai are often asked multitude of questions regarding personal status matters in the UAE. These relate to marriages, divorces, custody of the children, visitation rights of the parents, maintenance and related matters.

In this article, international divorce lawyers will answer some of the issues related to family law.

1.Can spouses divorce by mutual consent?

Yes, spouses can mutually consent to divorce in the UAE. According to the divorce lawyers, the spouses may agree to divorce by entering into an amicable settlement agreement which will contain the agreed positions on crucial post marital rights and obligations between the parties.

2.Does the Settlement Agreement have to be Signed by the Parties?

Yes, the settlement agreement has to be signed before the family guidance department of the family courts. For this, you may:

• Open a family guidance file in the family courts.
• Finalise the agreement and have the draft in agreed form.
• Sign the settlement agreement before the judge.
• Have the court grant you divorce based on the settlement agreement.

3.Who will have custody of the children?

According to family and divorce lawyers, mothers may usually have custody of the child (unless she is unfit) till the daughter completes 13 years and the son, 11 years. After the child crosses these ages, the father may claim custody of the child. However, the laws related to custody are not so simple and there are many conditions and circumstances which should be given due importance.

For example, Article 143 of the UAE Personal Status Law mentions that a custodian should:

• have sound judgement and attained the age of majority;
• have the ability to raise the child and provide for his maintenance;
• have fidelity;
• be safe from dangerous contagious disease; and
• not be convicted for a crime against honor.

Additional conditions apply if the custodian is a woman.

4.What about maintenance?

The wife may claim maintenance during the divorce proceedings, for her and the children. She may claim the following:

• Back dated expenses.

  If the husband has not provided maintenance support. However, claim would be barred if it is for more than 3 years, unless agreed by the parties. Financial support may also be claimed without filing for a divorce case.

• Maintenance during Iddah period.

  Iddah is a period that the wife must mandatorily spend without marriage after separation to confirm if she is pregnant.

• Dowry:

  Deferred dowry, payable at the time of dissolution of marriage through death or divorce may be claimed.

• Maintenance for the children:

  The wife may also claim maintenance for her children, as well as fees for acting as a custodian.

These are only some of the claims which can be raised. For more advice on financial claims during divorce proceedings, you should get in touch with divorce lawyers in Dubai.

5.What about the visitation rights of the parent?

If the spouses have agreed on the visitation rights of the parents under the settlement agreement, then the agreed terms will be followed. However, in cases where no such agreement has been made, the judge is entitled to decide on the maintenance for the children, right of visitation of the parent along with the period of visitation, place of visitation, amongst others.

Disclaimer:

The above information might not apply if both parties are non-Muslim. Starting from the 1st of February 2023, UAE issued specific family law to be applied between non-Muslim expat residents in case none of them wanted to apply his/her home country's law in the UAE. To know more information about this law, please feel free to click this link

---

Copyright © of this article is retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. We explicitly grant you permission to download a copy, without any alteration, of this article for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or any charge. This article can be utilized on your website or for marketing, however, we grant you permission to host this article on your website and no other rights. This content should not be altered in any way or sold commercially in any format without prior permission of the copyright holder. During reference of this article, full biographic details entailing the name of the author, his designation, the institute and the publishing date of the article shall be provided.