UAE laws on child custody and related rights are best understood to focus on the sole objective of ensuring and protecting the wellbeing of the child.

Unique concept of the UAE Child custody laws:

A unique aspect of the UAE custody law is the concept of ‘guardians’ and ‘custodians’. Wherein the father of the child is assigned the role of ‘guardian’, and the mother of the child is assigned the role of a ‘custodian’ by law. A guardian is responsible for providing financial support to the child, while the custodian is responsible for physical custody and care. Despite the unique position that UAE law confers on parents, you may have the right to request and challenge the custody of the other parent. It is also the right of parents to make requests for valid visitation rights and control the factors that may lead to parental abduction of the child. The UAE courts also allow for ex-pats to apply their home country laws if certain conditions are met.

Child Custody Agreements:

Irrespective of the general law and legal principles concerning child custody rights, the UAE laws also allow for parents to enter into child custody arrangements of their own. This is a common route chosen by divorcing couples, as it provides them with more flexibility and control to determine the various rights concerning the child.

The major factors that are to be considered when entering into a child custody agreement include:

• Custody Rights:

  The agreement should record whether both the parents shall retain joint custody of the child or whether the traditional structure will be followed wherein the mother will have the physical custody of the child and the father shall retain the rights as the guardian of the child.

• Visitation Rights:

  The agreement should record how the visitation will occur post the divorce. Further, whether a given parent shall have overnight visitation rights or not. Quite often than not, a fixed structure is preferred for visitation while also allowing room for flexibility, especially on special occasions and other celebratory days. A fixed structure is possibly beneficial in bringing in a routine to the child’s life and allowing them to ease into the new changes in their family unit. Having access and being able to spend quality time with both parents should be a key focus of such an agreement.

• Financial Obligations:

  The traditional UAE laws impose the financial obligations on the father of the child towards all the requirements such as educational expenses, housing, transport etc. However, the parents are also free to enter into a mutual obligation to share the costs between them and record the same as part of the agreement.

• Travel:

  This constitutes another essential element of the custody agreement, and the parents should determine how the rights concerning travelling outside UAE is to be included. Whether the child is of age to travel on its own, whether both the parents have the right to accompany the child for international travel etc, this is often a hard deal to be entered into between the parents, especially due to fear concerning parental child abduction or relocation without mutual consent.

The United Arab Emirates keeps the child’s best interest at the heart of all the legal procedures and practices in the country. Keeping the same in mind, the emirate of Abu Dhabi has recently enacted a new decree-law on ‘Personal status for non-Muslims in the emirate of Abu Dhabi’. Similar to western procedures, the new decree now allows parents to retain ‘joint custody of children after divorce. It applies to any non-muslim foreigner, whether it be a male or female, who has his or her domicile, or place of residence or place of work in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and thus comes under the direct jurisdiction of the Abu Dhabi courts. The new changes are aimed to protect the psychological and emotional wellbeing of children by allowing a legal structure crucial for their wellbeing.