The burden of ensuring a smooth functioning of our judiciary is inordinately hauled by individuals with genuine legal concerns by paying court fees to receive a shot at justice. It is apparent in most jurisdictions that receiving justice comes at its own cost borne by parties to a suit and mostly the judgment debtor. In the codified jurisdiction of UAE, each Emirates is authorized to establish their won rules and regulations pertaining to the court fees submitted in civil cases. The civil lawyers of Dubai will herein discuss about the recent amendments issued by the government of Dubai pertaining to the civil court fees in the wake of global pandemic.

Existing Law

The law number 21 of 2015 governs the judicial fees submitted before Dubai courts, however, the said law has undergone several amendments since its enactment for instance in 2017, 2019 and now in 2020 by virtue of Law number 7 of 2020. Under the amendment of 2019 (Law number 2 of 2019), the authorities removed some categories of cases, claims or lawsuits for submitting court fees. Such categories of law suits entailed cases registered by federal and local entities and cases registered for endowments, donations, wills or charity. In addition, the law confirmed that the individuals filing any other civil case apart from the exempted category are subject to a court fees of 6% of the claim amount to a maximum of AED 50,000 (not including cases of personal status). Nevertheless, this fee was further categorized on the basis of amount of the claim, which can be explained by the Best Lawyers in Dubai, as when needed. Additionally, the court fees for cases of bankruptcy and debt settlement was reduced to AED 500 from AED 2,000.

The Amendment

The recent amendment in judicial law is through Law number 7 of 2020, which has slightly amended the existing law. In accordance with Article 7 of the new amendment of 2020, the claimant registering the case earlier was obliged to deposit the full court fees at the stage when the matter was registered before the court authorities, however, with the new amendment, the fifty percent of the court fees will be deposited before the Amicable Dispute Resolution Centre. In addition, the remaining fifty percent will be deposited at when the matter is registered before the relevant court authorities. It is important for the readers to understand that the amicable dispute resolution centres are established by court for offering the parties an opportunity to resolve the issue genially, rather than registering the matter to the court. In line with the same objective the court has allowed the claimant to retrieve the fifty percent of the court fees should the matter be resolved before the amicable dispute resolution authorities.

Additionally, a new amendment can be witnessed in the amended law of 2020 which imposes an obligation on those who files an appeal against the order issued by criminal court of first instance to pay AED 500 (non-refundable) for offenses of misdemeanours. Furthermore, a fee of AED200 will be deposited for any action taken against the law at court’s treasury. It is a viable to approach the Top Lawyers of Dubai to ascertain the exact court fees for your civil or commercial claim.